She never retired, she said today: “I think retirement at any age is a fate worse than death. Just because a number comes up doesn't mean you have to stop.
“Working with her was the honor of a lifetime. I will miss her daily calls, always met with the familiar question: ‘What do you have for me today?’” Sale said in a statement. “A testament to her insatiable desire to work. She was a visionary in every sense of the word. She saw the world.” Through a unique lens – one adorned with giant, distinctive glasses that sit atop her nose.
Iris Apfel at New York Fashion Week 2016. credit: AP
Apfel was an expert in antique textiles and fabrics. She and her husband, Carl, owned a textile manufacturing company, Old World Weavers, and specialized in restoration work, including projects at the White House under six different US presidents. Apfel's celebrity clients include Estée Lauder and Greta Garbo.
Apfel's fame exploded in 2005 when the Metropolitan Institute of Art in New York City hosted a show about her titled Rara Avis, Latin for “rare bird”. The museum described her style as “intelligent and very distinct.
“Her originality is usually evident in her mixing of high and low fashion – Dior high fashion with what you find at flea markets, 19th-century churchwear with Dolce & Gabbana lizard trousers.” The museum said her “multi-layered collections” challenge “aesthetic conventions” and “even at their most baroque and radical” represent “daring pictorial modernism.”
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The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, was one of several museums across the country to host a traveling version of the exhibition.
Apfel later decided to donate hundreds of pieces to Peabody—including couture dresses—to help them build what she called “an amazing fashion collection.” The Fashion and Lifestyle Museum near Apfel's winter home in Palm Beach, Florida, is also planning an exhibition dedicated to showcasing items from Apfel's collection.
Apfel was born in New York City to Samuel and Sadie Burrell. Her mother owned a store.
Her fame in later years included appearances in advertisements for brands including MAC Cosmetics and Kate Spade.
She has also designed an accessories and jewelry collection for the Home Shopping Network, collaborated with H&M on a sold-out-in-minutes collection of brightly colored clothing, jewelry and shoes, created a makeup line with Ciaté London, and an eyewear collection with Zenni. , and partnered with Rugable on floor coverings.
With her signature style of oversized glasses, bright red lipstick and colorful outfits, Iris Apfel was hard to miss. credit: AP
In a 2017 interview with the Associated Press at the age of 95, she said her favorite contemporary designers were Ralph Rucci, Isabel Toledo and Naeem Khan, but added: “I have so many, I don't go looking.”
When asked about her fashion advice, she said: “Everyone should find their own way. I'm great for individuality. I don't like trends. If you can figure out who you are, what you look like and what you can handle, you'll know what to do.”
She called herself an “icon of serendipity,” which became the title of a book she published in 2018 filled with her mementos and stylistic musings.
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Apfel's lyricism is plentiful, from her Barbie look to the T-shirts, glasses, artwork, and dolls.
Apfel's husband died in 2015. They had no children.
AP
