NEW YORK (AP) – Iris Apfel, a textile expert, interior designer and fashion celebrity known for her eccentric style, has died. She was 102 years old.
Her death was confirmed by her commercial agent, Lori Sale, who called Apfel “an extraordinary person.” Her cause of death has not been disclosed. This was also announced on Friday on her verified Instagram page, which she celebrated the day before. leap day It was her 102nd and a half birthday.
Born August 29, 1921, Apfel was known for his irreverent, show-stopping attire, which combined haute couture with oversized costume jewelry. For example, a classic Apfel look combines a feather boa with a jacket embellished with chunky beaded strands, bangles, and Native American beadwork.
With her large, round, black-rimmed glasses, bright red lipstick, and short white hair, she stood out at every fashion show she attended.
Her style was the subject of museum exhibits and the documentary film Iris, directed by Albert Maysles.
“I’m not pretty and I’ll never be pretty, but that doesn’t matter,” she once said. “I have something better. I have style.”
Apfel rose to social media fame in his later years, amassing nearly 3 million followers. Instagram followers, where her profile proclaims, “More is more, less is boring.” On her TikTok, she has amassed 215,000 followers by sharing her smart thoughts on fashion and style and promoting her recent collaborations.
“Being stylish and being fashionable are two completely different things,” she said in a TikTok video. “You can easily buy a way to be fashionable. I think style is in your DNA. It means originality and courage.”
She never retired, telling “Today”: There’s no need to stop just because you see the numbers. ”
“It was the honor of a lifetime to work with her,” Sale said in a statement, “I will always miss her daily phone calls, asking me, ‘What have you brought me today?’ He said he misses being greeted with questions. “It is a testament to her insatiable appetite for her work. She was a visionary in every sense of the word. I saw the world through a lens.”
Apfel was an expert in textiles and antique fabrics. She and her husband Carl ran a textile manufacturing company, Old World Weavers, and specialized in restoration work, including projects in the White House under six different U.S. presidents. Apfel’s celebrity clients included Estée Lauder and Greta Garbo.
Apfel’s own fame exploded in 2005 when New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute hosted a show about her called “Lara Avis,” which means “rare bird” in Latin. The museum described her style as “witty and exuberantly unique.”
Her originality is best seen in the combination of high and low fashion. Dior haute couture and flea market finds, 19th century church vestments and Dolce & Gabbana lizard pants. The museum said her “superimposed combinations” defy “aesthetic conventions” and express “a bold graphic modernity” that is “even the most extreme and baroque.” Ta.
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, was one of several museums around the country to host a traveling version of the show. Ms. Apfel later decided to donate hundreds of dresses, including her haute couture dresses, to Peabody to help her build what she called her “amazing fashion collection.” The Fashion and Lifestyle Museum, located near Apfel’s winter home in Palm Beach, Florida, also plans a dedicated gallery to display items from Apfel’s collection.
Apfel was born in New York City to Samuel and Sadie Burrell. Her mother owned a boutique.
Apfel’s later fame included appearing in ads for brands such as MAC Cosmetics and Kate Spade. She also designed a line of accessories and jewelry for Home Her Shopping Her Network, collaborated with H&M to launch a collection of brightly colored apparel, jewelry and shoes that sold out in minutes, and Ciaté Her London. and presented her line of makeup and her collection of glasses. Zenni partnered with her Ruggable for her flooring.
In a 2017 interview with The Associated Press, when she was 95 years old, she said that some of her favorite contemporary designers were Ralph Lucci, Isabel Toledo, and Naeem Khan, but added, “I have so many that I don’t go looking for them.” No,” he added. Asked for advice on fashion, she said, “Everyone should find their own way. I’m a person with great individuality. I don’t like trends. Once you know what you can handle, you will know what to do.”
She calls herself an “accidental icon,” which became the title of a 2018 book filled with her memories and musings on style. From Apfel-like Barbies to shirts, glasses, artwork, and dolls, tributes to Apfel abound.
Apfel’s husband died in 2015. they had no children.
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Lifestyle writer Leanne Italie contributed to this report.
