Book Description

From the fashion icon, “a joyous, colorful collection of photographs; drawings; reflections; and personal mottos on marriage, business, fame and style” (Boca Raton Observer). The late great Iris Apfel was a woman who transcended time and trends—one of the most original and dynamic personalities in the worlds of fashion, textiles, and interior design. Written a few years before her passing at age 102, this is a lavishly illustrated memoir in which she shares her musings, anecdotes, and incomparable wisdom. As the cofounder with her husband of Old World Weavers, an international textile manufacturing company that specialized in reproducing antique fabrics, she served a prestigious clientele including Greta Garbo, Estee Lauder, Montgomery Clift, and Joan Rivers. She also acted as a restoration consultant and replicated fabric for the White House over nine presidential administrations. Iris’s worldwide travels and devotion to flea markets inspired her work and fueled her passion for collecting fashion and accessories. In 2005, she was the first living person who was not a designer to have her clothing and accessories exhibited at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a blockbuster show that catapulted her to fame and a career as a model, muse, and collaborator for renowned brands from Citroen to Tag Heuer. In 2015, acclaimed director Albert Maysles released Iris, his Emmy Award-nominated documentary, to a global audience. This celebratory volume captures her unique joie de vivre and features 180 full-color and black-and-white photos and illustrations—presented in the same improvisational, multifaceted style that made Iris a much-loved legend. “It’s hard to resist this self-proclaimed ‘geriatric starlet.’ With her owlish glasses, loud prints and necklaces upon necklaces, even in her 90s, Apfel is a fashion icon who combines a memoir with photos of the vibrant contents of her closets.” —The New York Times Book Review