Iris Apfel
I live in the Dark Ages, the 17th century. Actually, I would have loved to be in Paris in the early 20th century when the Ballets Russes were there and Chanel was designing.
I've always loved to help people, young people in particular.
Nobody is original anymore. Nobody has any original style.
The fashion industry has done itself in by neglecting the 60- to 80-year-old market. They have the time and the economic resources. They want to go shopping.
I was always known in my industry, and I always enjoyed a modicum of popularity.
I wasn't interested at all in doing a documentary. I was not a public figure.
I don't look at Instagram. I don't have much to do with social media.
When you don't dress like everybody else, you don't have to think like everybody else.
If you don't learn constantly, you don't grow, and you will wither. Too many people wither on the vine. Sure, it gets a little harder as you get older, but new experiences and new challenges keep it fresh.
Colour can raise the dead.
Aging gracefully is about no heavy makeup, and not too much powder because it gets into the wrinkles, and, you know, to not get turtle eyelids and to not try to look young.
I never buy what someone says is 'in' or a 'must-have.' I buy what makes me happy.
Self-exploration is very painful, but unless you do that, you will never know who you are and who you want to be.
I'm from New York. My grandparents were settlers of Long Island City. When they came here, there was no bridge, and they had to hire a boat across the river. They had a farm, and my grandmother had to go once a week to Manhattan to buy provisions - very primitive.
My look is either very baroque or very Zen - everything in between makes me itch.
Understated jewellery is not for me. It's too itsy-bitsy. My husband is lucky, as I've never had a yen for real jewels.
You can be born with the talent to be an opera star, but you've got to work and practice it.
Being an individual takes effort. Most people are pretty lazy. And that's OK! I mean, there are more important things than fashion. If it's going to stress you out to have a sense of style, don't do it. The important thing is to be comfortable so you can get on with your life.
I have ideas that I think might be amusing, and I try them, and if they look right, I carry them out, and if they don't, I throw them out and try something else. I don't agonize about it.
I've never seen anything like the way some young people behave. They go out on a date, and they're sitting opposite each other at a table, and they're not looking at each other, and they text each other as though they're deaf-mutes. It's insane.
Coco Chanel once said that what makes a woman look old is trying desperately to look young. Why should one be ashamed to be 84? Why do you have to say that you're 52? Nobody's going to believe you anyway, so why be such a fool? It's nice that you got to be so old. It's a blessing.
It's better to be happy than to be well-dressed.
I'm not a pretty person. I don't like pretty, so I don't feel badly. Most of the world is not with me, but I don't care.
You can't try to be somebody you're not; that's not style. If someone says, 'Buy this - you'll be stylish,' you won't be stylish because you won't be you. You have to learn who you are first, and that's painful.
There's different shopping in Paris than there is at a bazaar in Istanbul, but they're all wonderful.
Nothing I ever did I expected to do. It just kind of happened.
I just roll with the punches.
I always tell people I'm very large in Uzbekistan.
I get very involved with my things, and they are not standard equipment.
I didn't have children, but I never wanted children.
I don't expect to find inspiration. It just sort of comes. Sometimes you step on a bug and you get inspired.
I think people try so hard to learn everything that they miss all the wonderful essentials. There is so much mystery in life that you should leave a mystery.
I still have the dress I wore on the first date with my husband, which was more than 66 years ago. I still have it, and it still fits.
I call myself a geriatric starlet.
I think people should express themselves more and not just buy what's in. While it can be very beautiful, and it may suit you perfectly, I'm sure it doesn't suit everyone in the same way. I like people who express themselves and are more individualistic.
Fashion has this youth mania. But 70-year-old ladies don't have 18-year-old bodies, and 18-year-olds don't have a 70-year-old's dollars.
I had a very brilliant father who was not only intellectual, but was street-smart and very curious to boot. The day I found out that he didn't know everything, I grew up. It was a shock. I just thought that the man was the end-all of everything, and he knew the answer to everything. Then I found out I'd have to find out my own answers.
I never felt pretty. I don't feel pretty now. I'm not a pretty person. I don't like pretty. So I don't feel badly. And I think it worked out well, because I found that all the girls I know who got by on their looks, as time went on and they faded, they were nothing. And they were very disappointed. When you're somebody like myself, in order to get around and be attractive, you have to develop something, you have to learn something, you have to do something. So you become a bit more interesting.Collection: Girl
Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There’s no how-to road map to style. It’s about self-expression and, above all, attitude.Collection: Fashion
I say, dress to please yourself. Listen to your inner muse and take a chance. Wear something that says 'Here I am!' today.Collection: Confidence
If you don’t learn constantly, you don’t grow and you will wither. Too many people wither on the vine. Sure, it gets a little harder as you get older, but new experiences and new challenges keep it fresh.Collection: New Experiences
More is more and less is a bore.Collection: Fashion
I don't have any rules, because I would only be breaking them, so it's a waste of timeCollection: Waste
You're not pretty, and you'll never be pretty. But, it doesn't matter. You have something much better. You have style.Collection: Style
If you're lucky enough to get old, I think you should celebrate it.Collection: Positive
You have to be interested. If you're not interested, you can't be interesting.Collection: Interesting
You only have one trip. You might as well enjoy it.Collection: Might
I don’t care what people think…I learned a long time ago…I was 19 and had a very traumatic experience….and I learned that I have to go to bed with myself at night and that I have to please myself…and as long as I don’t go out of my way to offend anybody that I love, upset my mother or my husband…I’ll do my own thing. And if the public doesn’t like it, it’s their problem, not mine.Collection: Mother
I’m a hopeless romantic. I buy things because I fall in love with them. I never buy anything just because it’s valuable. My husband used to say I look at a piece of fabric and listen to the threads. It tells me a story. It sings me a song. I have to get a physical reaction when I buy something. A coup de foudre – a bolt of lightning. It’s fun to get knocked out that way!Collection: Song