Publisher Description

This beautifully photographed book celebrates the style of fashion maverick Iris Apfel, who, over the past fifty years, has cultivated a personal chic that is exuberantly idiosyncratic. Combining genres, colours, textures and patterns without regard to period, provenance or aesthetic convention, she is one of the few style icons of our time. As the art critic Roberta Smith commented in The New York Times, 'Before multiculturalism was a word, Mrs Apfel was wearing it.'

More than ninety sumptuous colour plates, photographed by Eric Boman, show off a selection of extraordinary outfits on wittily posed mannequins, styled by Iris Apfel as she would wear them, while detailed captions describe all elements of the ensembles, including their designers, fabrics and accessories.

Whether the pieces come from Parisian maisons de couture, American antique fairs, North African souks, Middle Eastern bazaars or tiny ateliers where they have been made to Apfel's own design, her highly original strategy of dressing constitutes a remarkable artistic exercise.

Complete with a perceptive preface by Eric Boman, an introduction deconstructing the Apfel allure by celebrated fashion authority Harold Koda, an autobiographical text by Iris Apfel herself and more than sixty vintage photographs from her personal collection, this book is a celebration of a way of dressing-up that is nothing less than inspiring, life-enhancing, theatrical spectacle.

Notes

Subtitled, The Irreverent Iris Apfel. A beautifully photographed celebration of a fashion cult figure, whose personal style is an inspiring, life-enhancing theatrical spectacle.

Author Biography

Eric Boman is the author of Blahnik by Boman, Dames: Women with Initiative and Attitude and Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel, all published by Thames & Hudson.

Table of Contents

Preface by Harold Koda; A Word or Two by Iris Apfel; 1. 'I'm not a lady who lunches'; 2. 'In the right tonality, I never met a colour I didn't like'; 3. 'Mama said take one off - I say add one on'; 4. 'I was born with a Souk Sense; 5. 'Don't try this at home'.

Review

'A stunning visual record of how Apfel can combine fabrics, colours and accessories with breathtaking élan. A must for any clothes lover' - The Irish Times
'The "anything goes" bravura of style at its most imaginative' - Harold Koda

Promotional

A beautifully photographed celebration of fashion cult figure Iris Apfel, whose personal style is an inspiring, life-enhancing theatrical spectacle

Long Description

Captures the unique style of fashion maverick Iris Apfel and her exuberantly idiosyncratic personal chic. With remarkable panache and discernment, Iris Apfel combines styles, colors, textures, and patterns without regard to period, provenance, or aesthetic conventions. Now in her mid-eighties, she is a unique style icon. Over ninety sumptuous color plates, photographed by Eric Boman, show off a selection of Apfel's extraordinary outfits on wittily posed mannequins, some sporting her trademark outsized spectacles. The originality of her style is typically revealed in her mixing of Dior haute couture with flea-market finds, Dolce & Gabbana lizard trousers with nineteenth-century ecclesiastical vestments, pink Lanvin worn with ropes of Navajo turquoise. Apfel's eclectic pieces might come from a Parisian couture house, an American thrift shop, or a North African souk, or they may have been made to her own design in a tiny studio. Detailed captions describe every aspect of the outfits, including names and dates of designers, plus full information on fabrics and accessories. A selection of audacious accessories also comes under the spotlight: a giant necklace made of bear claws, a turn-of-the-century Indian horse ornament worn as a necklace, a parrot's-head brooch in colored glass and rhinestones. The book includes an introduction by Harold Koda, director of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an essay by Apfel herself, describing her lifelong love affair with style and illustrated with vintage photographs from her personal collection. 169 illustrations, 149 in color.

Details