"I refuse to become an old hag. I’ve given myself the title of the world’s oldest teenager and I’d never want this to change." -Iris Apfel
It is Iris Apfel's birthday and we are so ready to celebrate this fashion icon! Apfel was born in Queens in 1921 and fell in love with the Village in Manhattan. This is where she began cultivating eclectic pieces for her collection. She met her husband in the late 40's and they started a textile company together. Iris and Charles became very successful and started working for the White House and ended up working with 9 different presidents!
2005 is when fame found Apfel. The Met Costume Institute decided to make her the centerpiece of an exhibition called Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection. "An American original in the truest sense, Iris Apfel is one of the most vivacious personalities in the worlds of fashion, textiles, and interior design, and over the past 40 years, she has cultivated a personal style that is both witty and exuberantly idiosyncratic." -The Met Costume Institute
From then on Iris Apfel's fame skyrocketed. Barbies were made in her honor, documentaries about her life were made, and she signed a modeling contract with IMG in 2019. Sophie Lee said it best in an article for L'OFFICIEL, "As the saying goes, age is just a number. But, with the way Apfel wears it, late life is also her best accessory to date."
Happy Birthday to an icon and a legend.