Life Lessons from Iris Apfel
The world’s oldest living teenager has died.
Iris Apfel was 102.
She was a fashion icon all the way to the end with her exotic, eccentric and eclectic taste. She called herself a maximalist, wearing layers of necklaces, bundles of bangles and wild layers of fabric to look like a human kaleidoscope.
She earned the titles “geriatric starlet,” “The First Lady of Fabric,” “An American Original,” and “Accidental Icon.”
Iris always wore her signature big, bold eyeglasses, white hair and bright red lips.
I first learned of her when someone put her photo on top of my Life Lessons and claimed they were written by 90-year-old Regina Brett. The post went viral.
Oh, to look like her at any age would be a joy.
How bold and happy she looked in those saucer-sized glasses and candy apple red lipstick. She didn’t hide her wrinkles and lines; she wore them proudly like the beauty marks they were.
I never had the privilege to meet her, only to be mistaken for her above my life lessons. Over the years I saved her life lessons, and offer them here as a tribute to her:
Life Lessons from Iris Apfel:
1. Wear something that says, Here I am!
2. Style has nothing to do with how much you spend on your clothes. The most stylish people she saw in her life were in Naples right after the WWII. “They were all practically in tatters. But the way they threw themselves together and carried themselves, they really looked like a squillion dollars.”
3. Given a choice, it’s better to be unstylish but happy.
4. Enjoy your clutter. “Being totally minimal shows a lack of history and soul. It’s wonderful to have stuff and live with memories and things you enjoy.”
5. Grow bolder as you grow older.
6. Elegance doesn’t mean expensive.
7. If you’re going to wear glasses, go big or go home.
8. Have fun. “If you can’t have fun, you might as well be dead.”
9. Always look at the world like you’re discovering it for the first time.
10. If something sounds exciting and interesting, do it.
11. The past isn’t coming back and the future isn’t here yet. So live each day like it were your last. And one day you’ll be right.
12. If you try to be all things to all people, you end up being ‘nothing to nobody.’
13. If you live to a ripe old age it should be celebrated not shunned.
14. Think positively and not curl up in a ball because you’re ageing. “It’s a blessing when you age.”
15. If you can have one good little black dress and a lot of accessories… you can have umpteen outfits.
16. “More is more and less is a bore.”
17. You’re not a pigeon so don’t be pigeonholed.
18. Variety is the spice of life.
19. The world can be a gray place. “Colors, patterns and textures bring some fun to life.”
20. Be an original.
21. Pretty doesn’t matter when you have something better: style. “I’m not pretty, and I’ll never be pretty, but it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I have something much better. I have style.
22. “Age is just a number. Just because it gets bigger doesn’t mean you have to stop.”
23. Find your own way.
24. You can't live in the past, because that's gone and you can't make it come back. It was lousy, it's finished, go on to the next mistake.
25. Forget the trends. “Learn who you are and what you look like and what you can handle, you’ll know what to do.”
26. Everything is your attitude. “When you think about things a certain way, you look a certain way."
27. “When you don’t dress like everyone else, you don’t have to think like everyone else.”
28. “If your hair is done properly and you’re wearing good shoes, you can get away with anything.”
29. It’s not what you wear but how you wear it.
30. “You only fail if you do not try.”
31. “If you’re happy, have found love, are surrounded by good people, doing what you like and giving back to others, that’s success.
32. “Selling your soul for a buck is not worth the real price you pay.”
33. Love what you do and work hard at it. “I think hard work is my medicine, my salvation.
34. If you want to stay young, you have to think young.
35. “Having a sense of wonder, a sense of humor, and a sense of curiosity — these are my tonic.”
36. Relax at home. “There’s nothing like a good old bathrobe.”
37. “When the fun goes out of it, you might as well be dead. You need to pursue your own fancy.”
38. Wrinkles are a badge of courage. “If God is good to you and gives you all those years, why try to hide it?”
39. Take a risk. “If you put something on and it doesn’t look good, the fashion police aren’t going to come and take you away. And if they do, you might have some fun in jail. The fun of getting dressed is that it’s a creative experience.”
40. Being yourself is always in style. "Style is in your DNA. You can learn to be fashionable and to have good taste, but style is something within.
41. Never think about your age. “It’s a passing thought. It’s just a number.”
42. Love what you do and put your heart and soul into it.
43. “Gettin’ old ain’t for sissies. You start falling apart, but you just have to buck up and paste yourself together.”
44. “You may not like getting older, but what’s the alternative? You’re here. Embrace it. I say put your experience to work, to give something back to other people.”
45. “You only have one trip, you might as well enjoy it!”
And she did, all the way to the end.