Fabulous Find: Iris Apfel

On my flight to Vegas last month, I picked up the July issue of Delta Sky Magazine and read an article about a stylish gal about Manhattan. She’s a fixture on the New York fashion scene, she has her own line of accessories on the Home Shopping Network, and she’s a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Human Ecology, Textiles and Apparel Division. Think this is a young professional climbing the corporate ladder? Think again, divas. Iris Apfel (neé Barrel) is a 90 year old fashion icon known for her big, bold, chunky jewelry and those signature owl glasses.

“I’m a geriatric starlet, my dear, don’t you know.”

Born in Queens, Astoria on August 29, 1921, she studied art history at New York University (art history lovers unite!) and held down several jobs throughout the 1940’s until opening Old World Weavers, a high-end textile company, with her husband Carl. A fixture on 5^th Avenue long before the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art organized an exhibit of her personal clothing and jewelry collection, Iris became recognizable after appearing in a 2008 Coach advertising campaign. This year she’ll help break another age barrier when she appears in the MAC Cosmetics “Celebrate Aging” campaign where she collaborated on a makeup collection for all ages.

Iris Apfel for MAC

She’s unique, confident, and not afraid to speak her mind (who would be at 90?) as illustrated when she told The Telegraph, “Most of the young people today look dreadful. And celebrities look even worse.” Agreed, Iris, agreed.

For decades she was an educated and successful businesswoman in her own right and now she’s being recognized for her standout style. Now, that’s the kind of diva I want to be.

{Images courtesy of Google}