Common Ground DECOR Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon

A unique and lavishly illustrated collection of musings, anecdotes, and observations on all matters of life and style, infused with the singular candor, wit, and exuberance of the globally revered ninety-five-year-old fashion icon whose work has been celebrated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and by countless fans worldwide

A woman who transcends time and trends, Iris Apfel is a true original, one of the most dynamic personalities in the worlds of fashion, textiles, and interior design. As the cofounder with her husband, Carl Apfel, of Old World Weavers, an international textile manufacturing company that specialized in reproducing antique fabrics, her prestigious clientele has included Greta Garbo, Estee Lauder, Montgomery Clift, and Joan Rivers. She also acted as a restoration consultant and replicated fabric for the White House over nine presidential administrations. Iris’s travels worldwide and a passion for flea markets of all sorts inspired her work and fueled her passion for collecting fashion and accessories.

In 2005, she was the first living person who was not a designer to have her clothing and accessories exhibited at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a blockbuster show that catapulted her to fame and a career as a supermodel, muse, and collaborator for renowned brands, from Citroen to Tag Heuer, and global gigs at Bon Marché in Paris and the Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. In 2015, acclaimed director Albert Maysles released his Iris, his last film—now nominated for an Emmy Award—to a global audience.

Now, this self-dubbed geriatric starlet, whose irrepressible authenticity, wit, candor, and infectious energy have earned her nearly a million followers on social media, has created an entertaining, thought-provoking, visually arresting, and inspiring volume—her first book—that captures her unique joie de vivre. Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, contains an eclectic mix of musings and 180 full-color and black-and-white photos and iillustrations—presented in the same improvisational, multifaceted style that have made Iris a contemporary fashion icon. Astute maxims, witty anecdotes from childhood to the present, essays on style and various subjects, from the decline of manners to the importance of taking risks, fill the book as do lists, both proclamatory, revelatory, and advisory.

All are paired with a bold, color-filled, exciting design that varies from page to page. Here, too, is a treasure trove of never-before-published personal photographs and mementos, mixed with images from top international fashion photographers and illustrators with enchanting, surprising novelties such as Disney cartoons, vintage postcards, the Iris Apfel Halloween costume for children, and more.

About the contributor(s):

Iris Apfel is the world’s oldest living teenager. A renowned collector of and authority on antique textiles, she founded the international company Old World Weavers with her husband, Carl in 1950, eventually selling the company in 1992. Her line of clothing and accessories, Rara Avis, is available on the Home Shopping Network, and she has been a collaborator and spokesperson for an ever-growing list of brands and retailers. An associate professor at the University of Texas, she is the recipient of numerous awards, including a special award from the Women Together foundation at the United Nations, was the first living person not a fashion designer honored by an exhibit at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2005, has been featured in numerous publications in print and online, and is the subject of director Albert Maysles’ award-winning feature film Iris. Iris Apfel lives in New York City.

• 176 pages, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2
  

• Full-color photographs,
• Full-color illustrations
• Published: March, 2018