Last night I had the special treat of listening to Iris Apfel talk about her life with Dara Caponigro, editor in Chief of Veranda Magazine. The event is part of “The Best of” lecture series hosted by Sotheby’s and Hearst Design Group. Mrs. Apfel referred to herself as “a sponge collecting information and experiences until someone comes along and wrings her out.” Regarding her story telling.
Reasons I personally love Mrs. Apfel:
She’s an icon of style all her own. There is no debating whether or not she follows the trends. She could care less. She likes what she likes. Period. She could care less whether or not something has perceived status.
She seems to always be dressed in compete regalia. I have my moments, but I spend my days off in my robe (it is fabulous), which I have been known to sleep in. Iris probably wears a boa to bed and then has a costume change midway through the night.
She reminds me of my mother and my mother’s mother. (She wore cat eye reading glasses on a variety of colorful and beautiful chains around her neck)
She has been into my shop and seemed to be thrilled by it. Swoon.
Fun Facts:
For all of you who think things have changed a lot in your lifetime, Iris remembers living in Queens and taking a ferry to 96th Street in Manhattan and then waiting for a horse drawn carriage to take her downtown. She referred to Queens as another country since you could only get there by boat. There were no bridges yet!
Her first boss, Elsie De Wolfe, gave a felt jacket she bought at Sears “off the peg” to Maximilian to be made in fur – 1 in mink, 1 in sable, etc…all from a jacket bougth at Sears.
She was the first woman to wear jeans. She got it into her head that they would look really great with a turban and gold hoop earrings. She went to the Army Navy store to buy the jeans and they thought she was crazy. Once she found the jeans, she went looking for the gold earrings, but stopped into a bookstore and spent all her money on books. She figured it was probably for the best, “Better to buy things to fill your head than to put on your head.”
Should have patented it: Carl’s sample bag of textiles became so heavy that he had wheels added to the bottom of it.
She’s been married for 65 years and in case you were wondering Mr. Apfel is equally stylish. Her marriage advice – find humor in everything.
Her Story:
Best of all, Mrs. Apfel said that she never had a plan. Because she was her own person with her own style, she kept being offered opportunities. The way Old World Weavers started was almost an accident. She was working on an interior design project, and couldn’t find the fabric she wanted. She had been working with a very talented weaver who brought his hand-looms over from Europe and asked if he could do a custom design for her. The pattern was such a big hit, that the weaver asked if she would like to be his partner. He would do the weaving, she would do the designing and her husband, Carl who worked in advertising would do the sales. Her husband was reluctant to leave a secure job for a new venture, but changed his mind when on the same day designer Dorothy Draper AND a big retail store asked to purchase the textiles Iris had designed.
At 90, she’s still designing – tons! She now sells on HSN, has a line of handbags being produced by YOOX, designed a pair of drugstore “readers” by Eyebobs, which became so popular Neiman Marcus began selling them, designed a line of make-up for MAC, which had to be reissued because of high demand, and the list goes on…
