Iris Apfel, a celebrated interior designer, entrepreneur, and late-in-life fashion model, passed away at the age of 102. Iris was born in Barrel in 1921. She was raised in Queens, New York, and studied art and art history before working as a copywriter for Women’s Wear Daily. She started a textile and fabric reproduction business with her husband Carl in 1950, which managed White House restoration projects for nine presidents. Apfel’s distinctive style, including the bushels of bracelets, piles of necklaces, and signature saucer-sized, heavy-framed glasses, helped propel her into a late-in-life fashion celebrity or a “geriatric starlet.” She was 102 years old. Born Iris Barrel in 1921, she was brought up in Queens, New York.
Apfel’s star only brightened as she aged. At age 90, she was teaching at the University of Texas at Austin. At 94, she was the subject of a well-reviewed documentary by Albert Maysles (Iris). At age 97, she became a professional fashion model, represented by a top agency, IMG. She modeled for Vogue Italia, Kate Spade, and M.A.C. and was the oldest person to have had a Barbie doll made by Mattel in her image. Apfel received a 2005 retrospective at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel. Her autobiography, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, was published in 2018.
Apfel’s agent, Lori Sale, called her a “visionary” and described her as seeing the world through a unique lens adorned with giant, distinctive spectacles that sat atop her nose. Her artistic eye transformed the mundane into the extraordinary, and her ability to blend the unconventional with the elegant was nothing short of magical. Jewelry designer Alexis Bittar said that Apfel became a beacon for many people and messaged that women don’t need to hide in the shadows as they age and can continue to glow and get better at what they do and look like.