Written by Dr. Mary Jo Almeida-Shore

Iris Apfel, the 96-year-old businesswoman and former interior and textile designer-turned-fashion and style icon is living her life to the fullest and simply refers to herself as an “accidental icon.” Apfel credits her iconic status to her creative approach to personal style. This caught the attention of Harold Koda, former curator of the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Koda, who describes Ms. Apfel’s eveningwear as having a “Fellini-esque theatricality,” curated and exhibited pieces from her extensive wardrobe and jewelry collections at THE MET in autumn of 2005, a few years following her retirement. The exhibition, Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection, traveled to several other institutions, including the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, and launched Apfel into immediate stardom as well as laid the path for a staid second career. Since then, Apfel’s star has continued to rise. She has designed an accessories line for Swarovski, collaborated with MAC Cosmetics, starred alongside supermodels Karley Kloss and Toni Garrn in respective campaigns for Kate Spade and Etienne Aigner, starred in a documentary, aptly titled “Iris” and penned a new book, Iris Apfel, Accidental Icon, Musings of a Geriatric Starlet (Harper Collins). Read the rest of this entry »