More is most definitely more in fashion icon Iris Apfel’s treasure-trove apartment
Iris in one of her famously colourful ensembles, with piles of necklaces and armfuls of bracelets. ‘Fashion you can buy but style you possess,’ she says
At 96, acclaimed interior designer and businesswoman Iris Apfel defies all stereotypes of ageing. She is revered among fashion and interior-design aficionados as one of the great style icons of our time. Iris’s New York apartment reflects the same idiosyncratic flair as her quirky and dynamic sense of fashion.
Where in New York is home?
I live in a three-bedroom Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan. I moved here in 1978 with my late husband Carl and split my time between New York and Palm Beach.
Describe your apartment
It’s full of things I love and pieces collected over many years of international travel and buying, first for my interior-design business and later as co-founder of Old World Weavers, the textile manufacturing company that I ran with Carl until we retired in 1992. I am obsessed with colour, pattern and texture – when you walk in the door you know that it’s my apartment.
Iris’s maximalist home reflects her love of colour and pattern. In the dining room, an Italian tole chandelier hangs above a Maison Jansen table, surrounded by colourful painted antiques and decorative fabrics
Did your early years help to shape your style?
My family was a big influence on me. I grew up an only child in Queens, New York: my father had a homeware import business and was always bringing home interesting pieces; my mother owned a fashion boutique and loved dressing me up. As a child, I travelled internationally with my parents, long before it was the norm. I always felt as though I was a sponge, absorbing everything, holding on to what I liked and getting rid of the excess somewhere else.
Do you mix couture with junk-shop finds in your home?
Always – I have beautiful French, English and Italian antiques, but I love hunting out unique pieces in junkyards, flea markets and souks. Things don’t have to be beautiful, but they all have a powerful association with my life.
In the hallway, the 19th-century English bookcases are bursting with Iris’s extensive collection of coffee-table hardbacks on art, fashion, textiles and antiques. Framed 18th- and 19th-century dog paintings line the walls, leading to the bedrooms beyond. For similar portraits try 1stdibs.com
As a fashion icon, you have always been ahead of your time. Was the same true of your interiors?
My home has always been a reflection of who I am. I dress myself and home to please me. I am not influenced by others and don’t take myself too seriously. Humour is important.
Do you see interiors and fashion as being inextricably linked?
For me it’s all part of your creative expression and aesthetic. If you are honest with yourself it is part of your being, so unless you are mimicking somebody you will find your natural style. I definitely dress and decorate with the same spirit.
An antique carving of a French mountain dog holds Iris’s Bakelite jewellery collection. For a similar animal side table try grahamandgreen.co.uk
Has your style at home evolved over the years?
I have always been a maximalist. I have never changed my approach to things; my style has just become more highly developed.
Where did your love of antiques come from?
As a child I played hooky on a Thursday to scour the junk shops of Manhattan. I could travel as far as I wanted on the Subway for a nickel and was obsessed with the hunt for unusual finds. I don’t get any kick out of going to a very beautiful, elegant shop where everything is preselected. I like to do it myself.
Home – place for entertaining or a retreat?
I like to have people over but my privacy is everything. My husband was a darling. Losing him has been a huge loss. I have always worked like a fiend but since he died I have been working day and night. I can’t stay at home and cry all day; he loved what I was doing and would have wanted me to carry on.
What is the secret to a happy home?
Happy inmates. If you are not a happy person or happy with whom you live with, then it won’t be a happy home.
In the entrance to the apartment an Italian console and 18th-century gilt chinoiserie mirror are flanked by piles of books stacked on top of two stone pedestals. For similar stone plinths try chilstone.com
You have worked on some amazing design projects, including the redecoration of The White House for 9 Presidents and clients such as Greta Garbo and Estee Lauder. What was the best bit?
We had such an interesting group of people to work for who didn’t want to go showroom to showroom for the latest standard design pieces. If clients wanted to work with me I made them think uniquely – no two homes I designed ever looked alike – every space reflected the people who lived there.
How do you feel about interior design today?
So much décor today, although beautiful, looks like an exceedingly expensive suite in a grand hotel, but without any soul. I would rather have made a few mistakes in my time, than have created something so perfect that it feels obnoxious – but that’s just me.
The Louis XVI-style chairs in the entrance hall are upholstered in a cut velvet from Old World Weavers, a contrast to the bold statement antiques, including an early 18th-century painted Genoese corner cabinet and an 18th-century French screen. For a similar dressing screen try frenchbedroomcompany.co.uk
You are a big fan of Jazz – has that impacted your style?
Jazz is all about improvisation and drawing on different cultural influences. I have lots of multicultural pieces and love how marvellous they look mixed together in the most unexpected way. People seem to like that.
Do you move things around a lot at home?
I love to rearrange furniture and play with things, to see how they look with this or that. I don’t live in a static atmosphere.
The guest room, full of clothes rails, is home to Iris’s vast collection of couture fashion and junk-shop finds. She has started to donate some of her fashion pieces to the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, which will one day be the custodian of her entire collection
Would you consider leaving the contents of your home as a legacy for a permanent exhibition space?
Nobody has ever asked me or approached me, but it’s a very interesting thought, I would love to.
What projects are you working on at the moment?
I have just launched a new home furnishings collection with Grant and Rose – a few pieces of furniture but mostly table-top and tableware, and am also collaborating with the French China specialist Bernardaud, on a new collection of statement jewellery made out of porcelain. An ‘Iris’ Barbie doll is coming out later this year too.
Iris’s new book: Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon is published by HarperCollins, price £25.