the rarest bird

They've always been in the fashion spotlight, even though they seem like new-fangled characters. It is impossible to understand the design industry without the necessary drops of eccentricity. An extravagance that Iris Apfel (New York, 1921) exemplifies like few others. She is one of those women who is enough to see just once to never forget her. Her lipstick-painted lips, her huge round glasses, her colorful necklaces and her strange clothing combinations have made her a world style reference. A documentary by the recently deceased filmmaker Albert Maysles celebrates the figure of this star who has fallen in love with photographers like Bruce Weber and artists like Kanye West.

At her age, Iris finds a place in the coolest gangs and has also achieved something unusual: becoming one of the leaders of the fashion scene without surrendering to the power of brands, unlike young bloggers and despite to the fact that designs by Lanvin, Versace, Dior, Nina Ricci, Dolce&Gabbana abound in her wardrobe... The years don't weigh on her either. It was her grandfather who used to remind her as a child that a woman is only as old as "she sees herself, not how others see her."

Perhaps that is why she does not stop still and maintains an intense social and professional agenda. Together with Tavi Gevinson, she is the image of the Alexis Bittar jeweler, godmother to & amp; Other Stories advises luxury stores (Bergdorf Goodman) and designs a collection of lipsticks, shadows and powders for the cosmetics firm MAC. "Dress with a little wit and you will go far," he confessed to Harpers Bazzar magazine to justify his longevity. “When you get older it's a little more difficult because, despite how good the clothes are, you don't always find yourself fit and spirited. But if you stay at home feeling sorry for yourself it's even worse. That's why I force myself to do things. Everything has a price. Nothing is free”, complains this celebrity who still dreams of bingeing on his favorite “drug”: caviar washed down with generous portions of vodka. Now she has deprived herself of this pleasure because Carl, her husband, with whom she has been together for 67 years and who has already passed a century, follows a salt-free diet. The only times she has discussed this peculiar marriage has been because of her fondness for flea markets. "You are crazy? People will think I can't afford to buy a real dress,” he snapped when his wife tried to make herself a pair of pants and shoes out of a velvet religious robe she picked up at a bazaar.

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The career of this icon began to take shape when he butted heads with the founder of the now-defunct Loehmanns New York department store. Frieda, the wealthy businesswoman, stopped her in the middle of the street and blurted out something that would have marked any other teenager for life: "You're not pretty and you never will be, but it doesn't matter because you have something much more important that you should take advantage of." . Instead of throwing a tantrum, Iris, who started buying clothes at the age of 11, took it with good humor. Mrs. Loehmanns was logically referring to style, something that this creator of glasses, bags and shoes has always had in abundance, as well as personality because since she was a child, this woman whom the press dubbed the rare bird of fashion knew she had to to do something "if you're not pretty". And she did it until she became the queen of the sidewalks of Manhattan. "Style is only one thing: attitude, attitude and attitude. If you can take something, anything, and make it look wonderful, then you have it. It doesn't matter if it's expensive or not," he says.

Importance of accessories

From her mother, a boutique owner who sacrificed her professional life to take care of her, she learned the importance of accessories. Iris maintains that the great power of fashion lies in the ability to look in the mirror and see "someone other than your usual self." Also in improvisation to do something different from the traditional: "Buy yourself a simple and a good black dress, which you can later transform as you want!", he usually repeats.

Dogmas of a tireless pioneer who despises social networks "with regard to technology, I live in the 17th century" and who made a great fortune decorating thousands of mansions Greta Garbo, Patricia Nixon and Estée Lauder were among her exclusive clients and the White House for nine presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton. She has walked through life breaking the mold at all times: she was the first woman to wear jeans, she prefers African stores in Harlem to buy and find inspiration "they have much more style than in Manhattan, where they believe that the style is to wear black" and has her own jewelry brand (Rara Avis by Apfel).

She has a very valuable fashion collection, which few women would dare to wear, because after the shows she always asked if there were some things that the brands wanted to get rid of. "I've always liked offbeat clothes that didn't sell as well and were cheaper." With her, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York mounted an exhibition ten years ago that triggered her fame. “Suddenly I became a geriatric star. My husband and I laugh a lot, but I'm not doing anything different from what I've done in the last 70 years”, remarks this icon who adores jewels “transform your whole mood” and is suspicious of modern designers. "They don't want to work hard and just want to win over publishers." In addition, she continues to enjoy buying studded caps for her husband, because the important thing, she says, "is not the party, but dressing for the party."