Just in time for Iris Apfel’s 103rd birthday, a new book about her eventful life is being published.
Aptly titled “Colorful,” the new page-turner is chock-full of photos of the fashion designer with her cropped white hair, bright red lipstick, signature oversized glasses and flamboyant outfits in bold colors. Apfel worked on the book before she died in March at age 102. Readers will find more than 300 personal images and many never-before-seen fabrics and archival pieces from Old World Weavers, the textile company she and her husband Carl founded in 1950 and sold in 1992.
In addition to being involved in nine White House restoration projects during her decades-long career, she has also been involved in numerous advertising campaigns in recent years, including for Kate Spade, MAC Cosmetics, Alexis Bittar, HSN and Le Bon Marché. Her White House commissions for Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton earned her the nickname “First Lady of Fabric.”
Her love of fashion and design continued to blossom when she was signed by IMG in 2019 for global representation in modeling, appearances and advertising. With unwavering curiosity, imagination and unparalleled self-expression, Apfel has never shied away from bold hues, patterns, textures or statements. “I’m a color person. I’ve never been one to play it safe,” she told WWD in 2012.
Alongside snapshots of a youthful Apfel lounging on a diving board in a tank top, the new book edited by Abrams includes pictorial remnants of her marriage proposal, vacation photos from Crete and far-flung locales, and references to her numerous collaborations, including one with H&M. As expected, color is highlighted extensively, given Apfel’s love for it. Think “radiant purple with canary yellow or lime green, a vibrant blue-turquoise with sunset orange, or bright red and emerald green,” as one page of the book suggests. She once explained, “My life has been filled with love, wonder, and a very deep, incurable curiosity. This book is my treasure trove of inspiration, influences, and ideas.”
Her previous works include “Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon,” “Dragon Threads: Court Costumes of the Celestial Kingdom: Chinese Textiles From the Iris Barrel Apfel and ATTATA Foundation Collections,” “Pocket Iris Wisdom: Witty Quotes and Wise Words from Iris Apfel,” and “Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel.” According to Abrams’ PR director Gabby Fisher, she did not use a ghostwriter for “Colorful.”
Alongside nostalgic Kodak-style images, there are also photos from later in life, where she is reclining on a velvet chaise longue in her ornate New York apartment in a long fur coat. Apfel is a master at doling out fashion tips and witty remarks in equal measure. Scattered throughout the pages are sayings like “color can raise the dead” and “no matter your age, no matter your gender, love is priceless.”
Iris Apfel with her birthday cake.
Patrick McMullan/Courtesy of Cen
The trendsetter’s zest for life is evident beyond her often extravagant outfits. Explaining that “sometimes the most exciting thing in the world is a Technicolor fest,” Apfel wrote of waking up on the morning of her 100th birthday to find the apartment had been transformed, with hundreds of brightly colored jellybean balloons covering the room. She wrote, “It was like walking through a magical balloon forest. It was quite a color riot.”
