by The inimitable style icon Iris Apfel has died at the age of 102, her representatives have confirmed. The American fashion designer and self-described “geriatric star” was known for her distinctive, joyful approach to dressing, regularly graced the front rows at Fashion Week, and worked with the likes of Estée Lauder and Greta Garbo during her career. In honor, we revisit a piece Apfel wrote for Bazaar in 2020, in which she asserts her philosophy that “fashion should always be fun.”
I have loved fashion since I was a little girl. I always liked to dress up, and my mother was very chic. She was at home with me until I was about 11, when she went back to work, leaving me to fend for myself. I remember one occasion when Easter was coming and I didn’t have an outfit to wear for the big parade on Fifth Avenue. It was the Great Depression and my mother was too busy setting up her business to shop for me, so instead she said, “I’ll give you 25 dollars”, which was a generous amount of money at the time, ” and you can go into the city and get yourself a suit – it will be a good experience.”
I was crazy with joy and went straight to S Klein, the granddaddy of all discount stores on 14th Street in Manhattan, because I knew I would get a good deal there. Right away, I found a dress that I simply thought I had to buy – but then I remembered my mother telling me that I must buy the first thing I saw, I must comparison shop. So I went up to town and looked around the big department stores – Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Best & Company – where everything was naturally much more expensive. I decided I’d better go back and get that dress, but when I got there, I found it was gone! I was frantic and breathlessly looked through the racks, he found, thank God and gave 12 dollars and 98 cents to the cashier. I put that dress in my warm little hands and went on to get my prize. I bought myself some beautiful leather shoes for three dollars and 98 cents, a nice straw bonnet, a pair of gloves, and I still had enough change to take the subway home to Queens. My children were overjoyed: my mother praised my taste; my father said I was financially secure. Only my grandfather, who was a master tailor in the old world, was flawed on the buttonholes. But then again, he couldn’t find a buttonhole to satisfy him.
For me, jewelery is the most transformative part of a woman’s wardrobe – it can change the look of an entire outfit. You can take the same outfit right from morning to cocktail simply by accessorizing again. I especially love costume jewelry, because I think the artists who do it are more free in their approach. I have been collecting pieces since I was 11 years old, and I still have the first one I ever owned. I bought it from a store in the basement of an apartment building in Greenwich Village – it was filled with all kinds of junk, but I mentally transformed it into an Aladdin’s cave. The shop was owned by an elegant old man who had fallen on hard times. Although the cuffs on his suit were broken, he always wore a boutonnière, monocle and spats. He was very interested in me, as he had never seen a child so interested in his junk. When he arrived, he would kiss my hand and treat me like a mini duchess… I was smitten. There was this one brooch that I drooled over, with beautiful pieces of glass inside that I imagined were overcut diamonds. I was very excited back then. He gave me a price that was way more than I could afford, but I saved my pennies and when it was what I thought was a respectable amount, I went back to bargain with him. We hung up and went, and he let me have it for 65 cents in the end. I treasure it to this day.
I wanted to get out of editorial fashion, so I took a job at Women’s Wear Daily in New York – the lowest job you could get. Now everything is electronic, but at the time publishers employed copy boys and girls to take pages from one editor to the next. I was constantly walking back and forth around this wandering building for the amazing sum of 15 dollars a week. The only good thing about that job is that it saved me going to the gym! Still, I liked magazines. Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue were my bibles – I couldn’t wait for the next issue to come out, and I would read each one cover to cover.
I think it’s very funny that I’m considered a style icon nowadays. My husband [Carl Apfel, who died in 2015] and I used to laugh about the whole thing, because I’m not doing anything I wasn’t doing 70 years ago – it seems he’s finally caught on. I always like to dress in my own way; I’m not like everyone else. I feel like a lot of people are saying they want to be single, but they’re just paying lip service. I often say, “It’s better to be happy than to be well dressed”, by which I mean that it’s great to look good, but if it becomes a chore and makes you nervous and uncomfortable, it’s not worth it. Life is very gray and the world is not the kindest place, so I think fashion should always be fun. For the last decade or so, I’ve tried to help people understand that. Some of them wrote to tell me that I gave them courage and joy, and some even said that I changed their lives. I am grateful for that.
I have been in quarantine for over three months now. I didn’t hurt myself though – I enjoy my own company, and actually, the lock was a blessing in disguise, because I was working as a nurse and it’s been 10 years since I’ve had a holiday. I’m no longer a spring chicken so I was very tired, and I had a really well enforced rest. My apartment is right on the water in Palm Beach and I consider myself lucky that I can sit out on my terrace every day.
I always like to make people happy, especially at a time like this, and I have a lot of fun with my Instagram feed. So back in March, I said to my followers, now you’re at home and there’s nothing better to do, why don’t you get everything out of your closets, put things together in a way fun and creative and then send me some photos? It took off like wildfire – more than 3,000 people from more than 65 countries got in touch with some amazing pictures, not just of women but of men and babies and red dogs and cats too. Last week someone sent in a series of dog portraits, all wearing my outfits, so I posted them with the caption ‘Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery’.
My philosophy is to live in the present – yesterday is gone, you don’t know if tomorrow will even exist, so you might as well enjoy today. As my husband would say, you should really live each day as if it were your last, because one day you will be right.
As told to Frances Hedges
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