Saturday, August 1, 2015

London Fashion Welcomes Iris

The lady turns 94 next month but shows absolutely no signs of slowing and now the voracious Iris Apfel has been eternalised in a new film by the late and great director Albert Maysles.

Toasted by a screening at Curzon Mayfair and intimate dinner at Annabel's, Apfel was in full force last night in a citrus orange fur and her now signature glasses. Clearly enjoying the circus surrounding the film, though not quite understanding the fascination for her, she explained that the film came about after a reprimand from Bergdorf Goodman's Linda Fargo for turning down the opportunity to be followed by Maysles.


´You'll never be pretty, but you have something much better than that, you have styleWhat Apfel was told as a young woman´

Thankfully asked again, Iris the documentary allows us to hang out with Apfel and her beloved husband Carl as she trawls the African markets of Harlem, the swap-meets of Palm Beach and visits endless friends who inhabit the broad landscape of American fashion - from Dries Van Noten and Jenna Lyons to Duro Olowu and Harold Koda - often trailing a group of students from a programme she started with the University of Texas.

Whilst her look makes her one of the most recognisable figures in fashion, on putting it together Iris offered: "Getting dressed is the least of my worries," explaining that style, "has to be in your DNA, though you have to cultivate it once you have it".

The words of a self-christened "nonagenarian It-girl" - interviewed by Voguecontributing editor Lisa Armstrong after the screening - were well heeded by a well-heeled audience. Though her magnified eyes rolled slightly at the hyper "social" world that we now inhabit - "It's carrying narcissism to a ridiculous degree. I don't care what you had for lunch!" she laughed - Iris the film is testament to the achievements of Iris the woman: both thoroughly modern and uproariously good fun.

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