One of the most enduring and captivating characters in the fashion world has passed away at the age of 102. Looking back at the life and centuries-old career of Fashion icon and designer Iris Apfel.

Iris Apfel died at the age of 102, her last post on Instagram was only two days ago, February 29th, when she celebrated her "102 and a half years", well yes at that age they also celebrate half years. Renamed the "geriatric starlet of fashion", her appearance has become her trademark: white hair, a frame of bold glasses, colourful clothes, bracelets, rings and necklaces, everything in profusion. At one hundred and two years old, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iris.apfel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iris Apfel</a> was a symbol of originality and authenticity in the world of fashion.

In the 1950s, she and her husband Carl Apfel founded the textile company Old World Weavers. The company renovated the White House nine times, for numerous presidents: from <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/culture/history-behind-jackie-kennedy-pink-suit-chanel-jfk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John F. Kennedy</a> to Richard Nixon; from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton, &ldquo;although on him &rdquo;, as she herself says in a tape where she is played by Albert Maysles, &ldquo;I mean don't expose yourself. We had problems with Jackie (Kennedy). She created projects for which she had to travel the world in search of colours, textures and materials that were rare in her country and which gave her an aesthetic sense that would make her a celebrity."

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" The important thing is not the party, the fun is dressing for the party. " A statement that perfectly describes the attitude with which Iris Apfel wakes up every day at 6:00 in her Park Avenue apartment, an apartment that seems being able to devour its tenant at any moment; where coloured armchairs with different patterns coexist with sculptures of dogs holding trays full of chocolates; teddy bears, paintings and golden frames. A department that dedicates considerable space to shelves and cabinets that house a vast collection of pieces by different designers that, although it seems crammed, it knows perfectly. You could pull a blouse out of the closet with your eyes closed and know it's <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/versace-autumn-winter-2024-25-mfw-collection-photo-look" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Versace</a> and it's hand-painted.
Even if it's not just exclusive designers: Iris Apfel delights in acquiring pieces at flea markets (where she enjoys bargaining), in gift shops for tourists or in some exotic boutique that forces her to move to Harlem, where "people have style, not like those who live in downtown Manhattan, they always wear black, it's not style, it's a uniform. These pieces, the result of years and years of shopping, have also been the subject of exhibitions in major museums such as The Costume Institute, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

If anything characterises Iris Apfel it is above all the way in which she managed to be an authentic character, which is based on instinct in dressing. Something that comes naturally to her and the only way possible: &ldquo;I've done it all my life and now I find lots of magazines, especially European ones, writing about me. But I'm not doing anything different than what I've done for the last 70 years!"
And she laughed that her age also made her a "geriatric starlet." When it comes to clothing, or fashion, Apfel ignores the rules; She also knows that originality is everything, the magic is in mixing and matching to show off personality. It's about being yourself. Although he also keeps in mind that, in the end, what matters with clothing is the sense of self-satisfaction. As the icon once declared, " it is better to be happy than to be well dressed ."

Farewell to Icon Iris Apfel: L'Officiel Cover Star and Queen of Fashion

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