Born on August 29, 1921, Iris Apfel remained a figure of vibrancy and life until her passing Friday at the age of 102. The lifelong New Yorker, who co-owned textile company Old World Weavers from 1950 to 1992, became a household name in 2005, when the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art mounted an exhibition of the clothing Apfel had collected over her lifetime.
Ubiquity quickly followed. At an age when many people begin to retreat from the world, Apfel embraced the spotlight, even appearing as the central figure in Iris, Albert Maysles's final documentary.
Savvy companies rushed to partner with the “rare bird of fashion,” as she was known, leading to appearances in commercials for Old Navy, a jewlery line for HSN, and a collaboration with fast fashion giant H&M timed to her hundredth birthday.
The polymath was more than an iconic face. Every interview felt like a gold mine of quotes and surprises. For example, when asked “How many times a day do you change your clothes?” she responded “I am not a fashionista, and I don’t dress up … I love fashion, I think it’s wonderful, but it’s not my life. I have various other channels that are more important.”
She also spoke candidly about what works—and what doesn't—when it comes to personal style. “Everybody looks the same,” she said regarding red carpet style.
“In a way, it’s rather sad, because there will be this nice little woman in Squeedunk who sees Angelina Jolie in a dress, who of course looks ravishing, and she’ll buy the dress and it will look pitiful. I think the worst faux pas in fashion is to look in a mirror and see somebody else—which so many people do. They think a dress is going to transform them. They don’t realize it’s themselves and their attitude. Because that’s what style is: attitude, attitude, attitude.”
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