It is Women’s History Month and what better way to pay tribute to women than to recognize and celebrate the life of Iris Apfel who died last week at the age of 102. The New York Times called her “the Eye-Catcher with the Kaleidoscopic Wardrobe”.
To say that she was one of a kind is an understatement. She became a model in her 80s and 90s. She was the subject of a wonderful documentary “Iris” at 94 and was signed by a leading professional modeling agency at 97. She was the oldest woman to have a Barbie doll made in her image.
As an interior designer, she decorated the homes of celebrity clients including Greta Garbo and Estee Lauder. She and her husband built a textile and fabric reproduction business, Old World Weavers, which oversaw restoration projects for the White House for nine presidents.
In 2005, the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented a collection of her extraordinary wardrobe. Titled “Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection,” the exhibit featured “Bakelite bangles from the 1930s, Tibetan cuff bracelets, a tiger-pattern travel outfit of her own design, a husky coat of Mongolian lamb and squirrel from Fendi displayed on a mannequin crawling from an igloo.” Ms. Apfel was quoted to have said, “This is no collection. It’s a raid on my closet. I always thought to show at the Met you had to be dead.”
In the documentary about her, she shares the scope of her wardrobe collections at her Park Avenue apartment. And you see the extraordinary attention that is needed to keep the immense collection properly inventoried, protected and stored.
Calling herself the “geriatric starlet”, she was living proof that women can live their lives on their own terms. She taught multiple generations of women that you do not have to think like others and that you can be who you are at whatever age. Thank you, Iris. Cheers for Women’s History Month.
Ciao
Lucy and Claudia