Iris Apfel passed away at the age of 102 – Style

Iris was born on August 29, 1921 in New York City into a family of merchants: her father owned a mirror store, and her mother, originally from Tsarist Russia, ran a fashion accessories boutique. With her husband Carl Apfel, Iris founded Old World Weavers, a textile company that restores antique textiles in 1950. The firm was contracted by the White House, which lasted nine presidential terms, starting with Harry Truman and ending with Bill Clinton. Apfel, who earned the nickname “the first lady of fabrics,” also created interiors for members of the American elite, Hollywood actress Greta Garbo and the founder of the beauty empire, Estee Lauder. All her life she was passionate about antiques, visiting flea markets, collecting jewelry and colorful accessories. “I am a person of color,” Iris said to herself.

She became a style icon and what we today call an influencer after 80. It all started with a show of costumes, accessories and jewelry from Apfel’s wardrobe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was organized in 2005 by Harold Koda, who oversaw the work of the Costume Institute. A show called Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection exploded interest in the “rare bird” – an extravagant old woman with a gray haircut and huge round glasses began to be invited to fashion shows, to shoot covers and advertising campaigns. Endless collaborations began with a variety of brands, for which Apfel created bright capsule collections and was happy to demonstrate them herself, because these were things in her style – bright, bold, colorful.

For H&M, she came up with a turquoise-aquamarine suit made of jacquard fabric, embroidered with pea pods (the premiere took place on the day of the designer’s 100th birthday), for the British cosmetics brand Ciat London – a line of lipsticks in rich shades, for the ancient French porcelain house Bernardaud – a collection of large jewelry with geometric patterns. elements. It also included several cute owl brooches that looked at the world with huge round eyes, as if wearing XXL glasses frames – a signature feature of Iris Apfel’s style.

Nina Spiridonova