Iris

I like to improvise.

I always think I like to do things

as though I'm... I'm playing jazz.

Try this, try that.

Okay, the sneakers from Home Shopping.

I design them and I sell them.

Ordinary black denim jeans. I'm a denim freak.

Reminded me of a railroad man.

When I was a kid, I was a railroad buff.

These bracelets come from Harlem.

These I have such a long time,

I don't even remember where they came from,

but they were like slivers of black,

so I love them.

And then these are just things I've been collecting

over the years.

AnyWaY-

Another mad outfit.

These are my shoes, smoking slippers.

Suede, embroidered.

This kind of tunic is from the Mao people,

Chinese minority.

It had a big hood, and I didn't like the hood,

so I made it into a collar.

And this is part of my collection of amber.

And then bracelets from all over the place,

including these ladybugs.

Okay?

I like to put things together like this.

This is an old jacket from, uh... Ungaro.

I love the way it's lined.

And these are Gianni Versace trousers.

So they're kind of fun together.

I'll wear them with a black turtleneck.

Just has to feel right with me.

Every time I do it, I do a different way.

I like individuality.

So lost these days. There's so much sameness.

Everything is homogenized. I hate it.

Whatever.

- Albert? - Yes?

Do you think we're demented?

So easy to amuse me.

I get more kick out of this that costs $4 and change

than if my husband took me to Harry Winston.

People interview me and they keeping asking me

about all these rules, and I say

I don't have any rules because I would

only be breaking them, so it's a waste of time.

With me, it's not intellectual. It's all gut.

I see something, "Oh, that'll go with this."

I'll try it on.

It's totally, totally the involvement

and the process.

It's the process I like much better

even than wearing it.

What could you do on these three pieces?

Fifteen, 25, 30.

How about $25 for all three?

Can you do $20?

Mm, all right, why not?

I think it was some very famous clothes horse

said the best thing was getting dressed.

She didn't give a damn about going to the party

or being at the party.

It was getting dressed for the party.

And there's more truth and poetry in that.

We are so pleased to have Iris Apfel.

This event will show you how she works

with people, their bodies,

and the way they should look or the way they can look.

What brings you to our fair shore?

I want something that represents my personality

but is also classic, so I need help.

There's somebody I've had my eye on.

You, you, with the earrings. Come here, girl.

- Oh. - Oh, wowie-wow.

This was a Gaultier.

I thought it needed a belt. So we added the belt.

The shawl is also an add-on, but look at those shoes.

She looks very Vogue-y.

This was something that when lris picked it out,

I thought she was a little...

I thought her 90 years was showing.

I never would have worn this myself.

I would have looked at it on the rack and kept going.

But I love it.

This is my wild child.

She told me that sometimes she has to go to occasions

where she has to be a bit more sophisticated.

And I thought, now that's a challenge,

to make her look sophisticated and kooky at the same time

is not the easiest thing in the world.

But we'll give it a try,

so see if you think we've succeeded.

Francis, my gosh.

Wow.

Dress looks pure couture.

The necklace I think is Missoni.

The necklace is spoken for. I'm buying it.

Okay, baby. I think you're in.

Thank you.

I was very much influenced by my mother,

and my mother worshipped at the altar of the accessory.

My mother could do tricks with a scarf

that I've never seen anybody else do.

It was during Depression days that I grew up,

and my mother always said, "Buy a good, simple

little black dress

and you'll always have something to wear

because you can dress it up or you can dress it down."

Thank you for sharing your vision.

And on behalf of Loehmann's 90th year,

we would like to celebrate your 90th birthday, too.

Oh, what a pretty cake! What a pretty cake!

Oh, my God.

Looked like the eternal flame.

I had discovered Loehmann's, it was in Brooklyn.

That was when Mrs. Loehmann, the original...

who was absolutely a trip.

She looked like something out of Toulouse-Lautrec.

And she would sit on a high stool

like she was observing a tennis match.

And she would look at what everybody in the shop was doing.

And she used to fixate on me,

and she really made me very uncomfortable.

And one day, she called me over, and she said,

"Young lady, I've been watching you."

She said, "Don't anybody...

You're not pretty, and you'll never be pretty.

But it doesn't matter. You have something much better.

You have style."

Iris is an artist.

What she uses all of her clothing

and her accessories to do is compose a new vision.

That for me is creativity.

Other people would say, "Well, you know,

it's just getting dressed, and we all get dressed."

Well, we all take snapshots on our phone,

and that doesn't make it art.

The fact that she combines everything,

what is nice, what is ugly, what's cheap, what is chic.

So all these things, and she just mixes that,

and she makes her own style of that,

and that's really... that's inspiration for me.

Her things are so special.

Everything Mrs. Apfel have is gorgeous.

When I first met her, there were all kinds of people,

all ages, all walks of life,

all surrounding her.

She was so engaging to everybody, you know?

And I could feel the pulse of her life,

of her excitement about living.

This is Iris Apfel,

and she is a legendary collector,

um, of fashion.

Exhibits of her fashions in museums

like the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute

drew record crowds.

And that was in 2005. I went.

It was extraordinary.

And tell us what you're wearing right now, Iris.

Oh, this actually I bought many years ago

for my darling husband, and...

You bought this shirt?

Yeah, this was done by Versace.

He painted it himself. It's leather.

So I grabbed it, and I took it home.

And I gave it to him, and he turned up his nose.

And he said, "Oh..."

lfis'husband is sitting right here.

Carl is sitting right here in the front row.

And Carl has pretty fancy pants on.

Look at those pants.

They're from Etro. I bought him those.

- Oh, are those new? - Yeah.

Oh, okay. Very nice. You're right with it, Carl.

Thank you, dear.

This goes back to when the dinosaurs

were roaming the Earth, 1948.

Articles from The Times and other newspapers.

This is what I looked like then.

I never wanted a wedding.

I wanted to elope.

I said I'd rather have the money.

But the parents and the grandparents

wanted the wedding.

Our first date was Columbus Day.

Thanksgiving, Carl proposed.

Christmas, I got blinged.

Washington's birthday, we were married.

Washington's birthday, February 22nd.

There was no Presidents' Day then.

It was a fairly small wedding, I think 125 people.

But very posh.

The dress was pink lace, and I'm really very practical,

So I wanted a dress that I could wear after the wedding

and notjust put in a box.

I still have these shoes

sixty... six and a half years later