IRIS THE DOCUMENTARY
IRIS APFEL
Iris is a documentary about Iris Apfel, the 93 year old style icon, by director Albert Maysies. It is a film about a woman who has chosen to live her life exactly as she wanted. She is an eccentric fashionista but also a wildly successful business woman. Websters dictionary defines iconoclast as a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions and Iris Apfel is certainly that. She questions everything expected of her including female standards of beauty, marriage, and the expection that women have children. The film celebrates her views and presents her as stylish and fearless. Iris was married to Carl Apfel who died last year at the age of 100. In the film, Carl is just as stylish as Iris and their relationship appears to be one of mutual respect, fun and friendship.
Iris Apfels trademark is a pair of over sized glasses that are bold and stylish. She accessorizes her outfits with armfuls of bracelets and chunky layered necklaces. She says in the film that "My mother worshipped at the alter of the accessory". She loves bold color and pattern, but also states that she is a "denim freak". One of her outfits in the film is a denim shirt embroidered with Mickey Mouse as a cowboy.
Apfel's home is fabulous! It is full of eccentricities such as Christmas decorations left out all year, children's toys, and a Kermit puppet riding a life sized plastic ostrich.
Iris was told by a shop manager years ago that she is "not pretty and will never be pretty", and admits in the film that she doesn't believe that she is pretty and doesn't care. She says that she doesn't like pretty. What she lacks in pretty she definitely makes up for in style and personality. She also states that "It's better to be happy than to be well dressed". The film was very inspiring to me personally. It made me want to be a little bolder in my dress, but mostly it made me want to keep living life to the fullest!
Watch the trailer for Iris here.
(images from Pinterest, Architectural Digest and The Huffington Post)