Incomparable style icon Iris Apfel has died at the age of 102, her representatives have confirmed. The American fashion designer and self-described “geriatric starlet” was known for her distinctive, playful approach to dressing, was a regular at Fashion Week, and worked with the likes of Estée Lauder and Greta Garbo throughout her career. We revisit the article Apfel wrote for Bazaar in 2020, in which she affirmed her philosophy that “fashion should always be fun”.
I have loved fashion since I was little. I always loved dressing up and my mother was very stylish too. He was at home with me until I was 11, then he went back to work and left me to fend for myself. I remember one occasion when Easter was approaching and I had no clothes to wear for the big parade down Fifth Avenue. It was the height of the Great Depression, and my mother was too busy building her business to take me shopping, so instead she said, “I’ll give you $25,” which was a generous amount at the time, “so you can go into town and buy yourself an outfit; it’ll be a good experience.”
I was delirious with joy and went straight to S Klein, the granddaddy of all discount stores on Manhattan’s 14th Street, because I knew I’d get a good deal there. I found a dress that I thought I should buy immediately, but then I remembered that my mother told me that I should never buy the first thing I see, that I should do some comparison shopping. So I went uptown and checked out the big box stores (Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Best & Company), where naturally everything was much more expensive. I decided it would be better to go back and buy that dress, but when I got there I saw that it was gone! I was frantic and breathlessly looked through all the shelves, found it, thanked God, and gave the cashier 12 dollars and 98 cents. I placed the dress in my warm little hands and continued to accessorize my prize. For three dollars and 98 cents I bought myself some nice leather shoes, a nice straw bonnet, a pair of gloves, and still had enough change to take the subway back to Queens. My family was very happy; My mother praised my taste; My father said I was financially sound. Only my grandfather, the master tailor of the old world, found fault with the buttonholes. But he still couldn’t find a job that would satisfy him.
For me, jewelry is the most transformative piece of a woman’s wardrobe; It can change the look of an entire outfit. You can carry the same outfit from morning to cocktails, just with new accessories. I especially love costume jewelry because I think the artists who make it have a freer approach. I’ve been collecting pieces since I was 11 and I still have the first piece I ever owned. I bought this at a store in the basement of an apartment building in Greenwich Village; It was full of all kinds of garbage but I mentally turned it into Aladdin’s cave. The owner of the store was a dapper old gentleman who had fallen on hard times. Even though the cuffs of his suit were frayed, he always wore a boutonniere, monocle, and leggings. He was fascinated by me because he had never seen a child so interested in his garbage before. When I arrived, he would kiss my hand and treat me like a mini duchess… I was impressed. There was a brooch I was obsessed with that had beautiful pieces of glass in it that I imagined were rose cut diamonds. I was such a dreamer then. He gave me a price well above what I could pay, but I saved my money and returned to bargain with him after receiving what I thought was a considerable sum. We bargained and bargained and finally he gave it to me for 65 cents. I keep this to this day.
Excited to keep up with editorial fashion, I took a position at Women’s Wear Daily in New York; this was the lowest job you could get. Everything is electronic now, but back then publishers hired copy boys and girls to move pages from one editor to another. I was constantly walking back and forth around this rambling building for the fabulous sum of $15 a week. The only good thing about this job was that it saved me from going to the gym! I still loved magazines. Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue were my bibles; I couldn’t wait for the next issue to come out and I read each one cover to cover.
I think it’s funny that I’m considered a style icon these days. My husband [Carl Apfel, who died in 2015] and I was laughing at everything, because I don’t do anything that I didn’t do 70 years ago; Looks like it’s finally figured out. I always like to dress in my own way; I’m not like anyone else. I see a lot of people say they want to be individual, but they’re just paying lip service. I often say, “It’s better to be happy than well-dressed,” by which I mean it’s great to look good, but if it becomes a chore and makes you anxious and uncomfortable, it’s not worth it. Life is very gray and the world is not a nice place, so I think fashion should always be fun. Over the past decade or two I’ve tried to help people understand this. Some wrote to me and said that I gave them courage and joy, and some even said that I had changed their lives. I’m grateful for that.
I have been in quarantine for more than three months. Still, I don’t bore myself; I’m enjoying my own company and quarantine really has been a blessing in disguise because I’ve been working like a devil and it’s been 10 years since I’ve had a holiday. I’m not a spring chicken anymore, so I was exhausted and had a great forced rest. My apartment is right on the water in Palm Beach and I consider myself lucky to be able to sit on my patio every day.
I always love making people happy, especially at a time like this and I have so much fun on my Instagram feed. Back in March, I said to my followers, now that you’re home and have nothing better to do, why don’t you pull everything out of your closets, put it together in a fun, creative way, and send me some photos? Everything spread like wildfire; More than 3,000 people from more than 65 countries contacted us with amazing photos of not only women, but also men, babies, dogs and cats. Last week someone sent me a series of dog portraits wearing my own clothes, so I posted them with the caption ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.
My philosophy is to live in the moment; Yesterday is gone, you don’t even know if there will be tomorrow, so you better enjoy today. As my husband says, you should live every day like it’s your last because one day you’ll be right.
As told to Frances Hedges
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