Meet Iris Apfel, 101, Who’s a Real Fashion Icon and Rocks Life With an Infectious Vigor

“More is more, and less is a bore,” this is the motto that our featured heroine, Iris Apfel, lives by. Despite being 101, she is still “vertical” and literally squeezes every last drop out of her life. Her great sense of style has been praised and followed over generations. Today, we’d love for you to meet this inspiring woman and maybe even learn a lesson or 2 from her.

Love for beauty and style literally came with mother’s milk to Iris.

Iris Apfel grew up in Queens, New York. She was the only child in the family and often had to entertain herself. She did it by playing with old fabrics and playing with them at her grandparents’ home. At an early age, Iris became obsessed with different colors, textures, and the feel of the small pieces of fabric. It was actually the start of her career. Interior design, fabric design, and even fashion design started when she was just a little girl!

While she was still a child, she also started going to antique shops, and here’s how her extraordinary jewelry collection from around the world was born.

She has thrived in many jobs and hobbies.

During the ’60s, Iris was mainly famous as an interior designer and had a great sense of style. Despite being highly in-demand in this profession, she never stopped looking for other opportunities. Her distinct taste and sense of style helped her start her fabric company with her late husband. Apfel designed fabrics and gave a new life to old furniture pieces with these designs. It became a quick success, and later Iris and her husband started flying around the world for the styling jobs of her dreams.

Her wardrobe has already become a fashion legend.

Her outstanding and stylish wardrobe containing expensive designer and cheap vintage pieces became the subject of an extensive exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2005. Since then, Apfel’s fame has become a fact. This woman magically knows the art of mixing and combining like no other.

She can masterfully combine a vintage Dior coat with plastic jewelry and cheap shoes. This is the true gift that makes her an outstanding person in the world of style and beauty. Her unique style is present in her interior, her wardrobe, and even her way of life. Despite turning 101, she has tons of energy and always behaves like a kid in a candy shop when she goes to vintage markets.

Like her sense of style, her love story with her late husband is also remembered in a refined way.

As inspiring as Apfel’s unique style is her decades-long love story with her late husband, Carl. The loving couple spent almost 70 years together. During that time, they created a company, starred in a documentary together, and kept this spirit of a true romance that only grew stronger over the years.

Iris wore a very practical dress for her wedding and pink lace shoes that she still has to this day, which seems to be back in style again. The couple decided not to have children because they traveled often and because Iris was highly dedicated to her personal style.

Iris has dedicated her recent post to her late husband. She posted photos of her and Carl in different periods of her life and wrote, “My darling would’ve been 108 today! Sending caviar dreams!”

What part of Iris Apfel’s story inspired you the most? Can you imagine what you will be up to when you reach the 100-year-old point in your life?