Iris Apfel, “Accidental Icon” of Fashion, Dies at 102—and Did It Her Way Until the End

After 102 years of a life well lived, Iris Apfel died yesterday at her home in Palm Beach. In addition to a career in textiles—including a contract with the White House that spanned nine presidencies, from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton—Apfel is perhaps most known for what happened during her so-called “retirement,” a term used loosely as her later years were so busy and full. (Clients of her Old World Weavers company—which she helmed alongside her husband, Carl—also included Greta Garbo and Estée Lauder, in addition to the White House.)

A 2005 show at the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring her collection of costume jewelry—styled with clothes on mannequins as she would wear them and called “Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel”—drew ample attention and contributed to her becoming a fashion icon in her later years. (The Met collection was also the museum’s first time showcasing an exhibit about clothing and accessories that focused on a living person who was not a fashion designer.) “This is no collection. It’s a raid on my closet,” she jokingly told The New York Times when the exhibit opened, adding “I always thought to show at the Met you had to be dead.”

In 2014, she was featured in a documentary by Albert Maysles called Iris and was signed to IMG as a model in 2019 at age 97. In addition to her career in textiles, fashion was always a part of Apfel’s life, it seemed—one of her first jobs was as a copywriter for Women’s Wear Daily, where she earned $15 a week. She also worked as an interior designer. 

In 2018, Apfel’s biography Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon was published, and that same year Apfel became the oldest person to ever have a Barbie made in her image. The Barbie, released in tandem with Apfel’s book, was not for sale, but Mattel made two “Styled by Iris Apfel” Barbie dolls that were commercially available.

On the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2021, Apfel told People that she considered herself to be an Energizer Bunny who simply loves to work—which she did her entire life. “At 100, what else is there to do except sit around?” she said. “I don’t play bridge. I don’t play golf. I love to work, and I really enjoy what I do.”

More recent projects included a clothing collection with H&M and a beauty collection with Ciáte London, both in 2022; both gave Apfel a creative outlet to channel her love of bold colors and patterns, she said. “The world can be a gray place, so colors, patterns, and textures are a way to bring some fun to life,” Apfel said in 2022. “Same with makeup—I want my lipsticks to be as bright and bold as possible.”

Apfel was known not just for her love of colors, but for her oversize black-framed glasses: “I always thought eyeglass frames were very stylish accessories,” she said in 2015, adding that she liked to pick up unique frames at flea markets. “People would say to me, ‘Why are they so large?’ and I would say ‘Because they are good to see you,’” she said. “And that would shut them up.”

The self-disclosed “workaholic” was also a visiting professor at the University of Texas and told Vogue in 2015 that the university asked her to help “beef up” its fashion program, which she did, as ever, with gusto, including bringing students to New York City to show them an “intensive” week in the fashion capital. “It has just been mind-boggling for them,” she said. “They just go bananas. And I’ve learned so much.”

Learning—and working—were what Apfel was committed to up until the end of her life. “Oh, I love to work,” she told Today in 2022. “It’s fun because I enjoy it…I think retiring at any age is a fate worse than death. Just because a number comes up doesn’t mean you have to stop.” 

Slowing down wasn’t in her wheelhouse, and she lived a busy, fulfilling life with no regrets, reiterating to Harper’s Bazaar U.K. in 2022 that there was nothing in her life that she wished she’d known earlier or wished she’d done differently. “I don’t live backwards or forwards,” she said. “I live in the now.”

The fashion world is mourning her passing, and designer Tommy Hilfiger said Apfel will be remembered as “a world-famous fashion icon because of her incredible talent not only as an artist, but as an influencer,” he said. “She has had an amazing effect on so many people with her huge heart and magic touch with everyone she meets. She will go down in history as an innovator and a leader in the world of textiles, style, and innovation!” 

Apfel’s social media presence is large: she amassed nearly 3 million followers on Instagram, where her profile declares “More is more & Less is a bore.” Once asked for fashion advice, Apfel said “Everybody should find her own way. I’m a great one for individuality. I don’t like trends. If you get to learn who you are and what you look like and what you can handle, you’ll know what to do.” She once said “I’m not pretty, and I’ll never be pretty, but it doesn’t matter. I have something much better. I have style.”

On TikTok, where she also amassed a legion of devoted followers, Apfel said in a video that “You can easily buy your way into being fashionable. Style, I think, is in your DNA. It implies originality and courage”—two words that Apfel embodied until her very last day.