Businesswoman, Interior Designer, Model, Fashion Icon, and Actress. In business with her husband, Carl, from 1950 to 1992, Apfel had a career in textiles, including a contract with the White House that spanned nine presidencies. In retirement, she drew acclaim for a 2005 show at the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring her collection of costume jewelry and styled with clothes on mannequins as she would wear it. She became a fashion icon, was signed to IMG in 2019 as a model at age 97, and was featured in a 2014 documentary called Iris by Albert Maysles. I'm not pretty," she reflected in a Vogue interview. "And I'll never be pretty, but it doesn't matter. I have something much better. I have style."
Businesswoman, Interior Designer, Model, Fashion Icon, and Actress. In business with her husband, Carl, from 1950 to 1992, Apfel had a career in textiles, including a contract with the White House that spanned nine presidencies. In retirement, she drew acclaim for a 2005 show at the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring her collection of costume jewelry and styled with clothes on mannequins as she would wear it. She became a fashion icon, was signed to IMG in 2019 as a model at age 97, and was featured in a 2014 documentary called Iris by Albert Maysles. I'm not pretty," she reflected in a Vogue interview. "And I'll never be pretty, but it doesn't matter. I have something much better. I have style."
Bio by: Neil Funkhouser
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