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A few minutes before the start of designer Joanna Mastroianni’s fashion show at Lincoln Center yesterday, an elegant elderly woman tiptoed onto the runway, leaning on the arm of a man in a pinstripe suit.
Clad in a cow-print jacket and a giant black stole, wearing round black glasses and oodles of bright, exotic jewelry, the tiny trendsetter cut an impressive figure — even at New York Fashion Week.
As she took her front-row seat, photographers and TVcrews swarmed her immediately. Before letting them snap her, however, she removed a compact from her purse and checked her makeup, ensuring her bright-red lipstick was in place.
Meet Iris Apfel, the 90-year-old fashionista who — after years of running her own textile business and serving under nine presidents as an interior decorator in the White House — is having a moment. In the past couple of months, she has released a line of punchy makeup for MAC, an affordable jewelry collection for HSN and a luxe line of baublesfor high-end shopping site Yoox.com.
And, oh: Mastroianni’s entire fashion show was inspired by her.
“It’s all about Iris,” says Mastroianni, who sent her models down the catwalk bearing feathered neck cuffs, beaded and embroidered dresses, and a sheer black caftan with gold details. “She is inspiring to many people because she’s telling us [through her clothing], ‘Don’t be afraid. Experiment. Be unique.’ ”
Not bad forawoman who likes to describe herself as a “geriatric starlet.”
While Apfel might have physically slowed down a bit recently— she uses a cane since breaking her hip eight months ago tripping over the hem of an Oscar de la Renta gown at a photo shoot—her projects are bountiful.
Besides being a muse to fashion designers, she is the subject of an upcoming documentary by Albert Maysles, who co-helmed “Grey Gardens” and is shadowing her a few days every week.
As for the MAC collaboration, “well, they simply called me,” she says. “I don’t have any agents or p.r. people or anything, so people just call me.
“They said theywanted me to do a collection,” she continues, “and it sounded very exciting — I love to do things I’ve never done before.”
Her capsule collection of brightly colored lipsticks, eye shadows,
liners and nail polish, boasting whimsical names like “Toco Toucan” and “Party Parrot,”was a huge success, according to Apfel.
“The lipsticks, [MAC] told me, sold out on the Internet, and the other things just flewout of the stores. I know they sold exceedinglywell in 22 countries. A friend in Paris told me the storewas completely sold out. It was really very exciting.” (MAC could not be reached for comment.)
Asked why it did so well, Apfel seems baffled. “I have no idea. I guess it was the colors … Maybe people are interested in what I do.”
That’s an understatement. The fashion firmament— including designers likeRalph Lauren, photographers like Bruce Weber and editors of edgy magazines like Paper—is completely fascinated by what Apfel does.
“So rarely do you come across a person like Iris, who is so unique — people like [the late] Isabella Blow or Daphne Guinness, who really push it fashion-wise,” says Mickey Boardman, creative director at Paper magazine, at one show.
“She’s having a burst of attention,” agrees Lynn Yaeger, a contributing writer for Vogue, sitting nearby.
When Paper magazine shot Apfel several years ago, Boardman remembers, “She came with a giant suitcase full of accessories. It was so hilarious to watch her get dressed. She would just pile things on, pile them on. She said, ‘I don’t think it’s enough, do you?’ ”
No minimalist when it comes to style, Paper Editor-in-Chief Kim Hastreiter calls Apfel a “maximalist.”
“More is more. She loves more — more of everything.”
More of life, too. Apfel’s long and storied career has included a stint at Women’s Wear Daily and also work as an illustrator’s assistant. Later, she owned and ran a textile company called Old World Fabrics with her husband of 63 years, Carl; they retired from the company in 1992 and live on Park Avenue.
She also worked as an interior decorator at the White House — from Harry Truman’s administration all the way to Bill Clinton’s.
In 2005, she had a sudden burst of pop-cultural fame when she became the subject of an exhibition at the Costume Institute at the Met, which put 40 of her pieces on display.
While she’s spent much of her life in rarefied settings, some of her best style inspiration comes from good old-fashioned flea markets.
“I’m 90 years old now, and I’ve been collecting junk jewelry since I was 11, so you do the math!” she says with a laugh.
Indeed, the love of the hunt began when she was a little girl, taking the subway into Manhattan from Astoria, Queens, with a nickel in her hand.
“I used to get on the subway once a week and take the afternoon off from school,” she remembers. “I thought Manhattan was the most fascinating place in the world.”
She’d hunt for costume jewelry and trinkets at flea markets in different neighborhoods:
“Chinatown, Harlem, the West Village … I was kind of a weird kid, I guess.”
The only child of a father who owned a glass-and-mirror business and a mother who owned a fashion boutique, Apfel has style in her DNA.
After studying art history at NYU and art at the University of Wisconsin, she married and started her business sourcing textiles from around the world.
The current buzz she’s sparking is not without precedent: In addition to the Met exhibit, she was shot by Bruce Weber for Italian Vogue in 2007, and she appeared in an ad for Coach in 2008.
But now her own designs are getting the attention — and she’s making money from her hobby for the first time.
“Oh, I think it’s just fantastic,” she says, reflecting on her most recent, and possibly biggest, wave of popularity.
“At 90 years old, to be starting all these new careers is pretty fun. It beats being sent out to pasture.”
Still, that’s not to say she’s too impressed with herself.
“I’m not just about fashion; I don’t live to get dressed,” she says. “I do other things, like working with schools, helping hospitals— all kinds of stuff.”
But she appreciates the curious power that her very personal style has on others.
“A lot of women all come up to me and tell me the same thing: They thank me for inspiring them, and for giving them courage,” she says.
“I think that’s important. It seems to me like I’m doing women’s liberation!”
BRANDED BY IRIS
Ever the fashionista, Iris Apfel isn’t content to nap and sip tea like most 90-year-olds. The self-proclaimed “geriatric starlet” has her hands in makeup, jewelry and more, with her iconic glasses and impeccable red lipstick always in place.
Makeup
“They’re my kind of colors,” Apfel says about her MAC collection, which included rich lipsticks, eyeshadows and nail polish.
Jewelry
Apfel says her taste for costume jewelry and trinkets started in flea markets. She’s sure to inspire the thrill of a unique find with her new collections on Yoox.com (near right, amber resin bracelet, $150) and shopping network HSN (far right, “Wise-eyed owl” pendant, $49.95).
Film
She’s also the subject of an upcoming documentar by Albert Maysles, who made the stylish cult classic “Grey Gardens.”