IRIS
Yesterday afternoon I cosied in to one of Glasgow Film Theatre's red plush seats to watch this wonderful film. Having been persuaded to see it by my friend Karlie (the talent behind the blog Glaswegian Westwood) I couldn't be happier that I did. As soon as her face came on the screen I immediately knew who she was but not necessarily what she was famous for in the fashion industry.
Having started her career in interior design and creating the textile company Old World Weavers alongside her husband Carl, Iris Apfel's eye for fantastic craftmanship and the most amazing patterned fabrics stayed with her long after she sold the company. An avid collector of clothing throughout her life Iris, now 93 years old, has always known how to style an outfit; and this film provides a behind the scenes view of her unique sense of style and personality, and sheds light on her life so far.
One of my favourite outfits shown in the film was this head to toe blue number. Iris' signature - aside from her round glasses - is the layers and layers of accessories she adds to every outfit, always encircling her wrists with multiple bangles and cuffs in colours which match or harmonize with the rest of her outfit.
What inspired me so much about this woman was her determination to go out and find each piece of clothing in various shops, which to most may be considered to sell cheap tat. She could go in and find beaded bangles and colourful scarves and coats embroidered in wonderful ethnic patterns, and not only be able to put them all together to create a piece of art that she could wear, but also have the balls to barter these craftsmen and shopkeepers for a better price. She says in the film that when she used to travel to Europe twice a year for fabrics and textiles she found it was a disservice to these tradesmen not to barter, it was an insult to them, claiming that if they said a fabric costed 50 Euros and she agreed straight away it left the tradesmen feeling down and thinking "If you're stupid enough to say yes to 50 Euros why didn't I ask for 150 Euros?!"
This film also gives an insight to Iris' personal interior decorative tastes which made me die a little inside with happiness. Her Park Avenue apartment in New York - which was desribed as the perfect apartment for two children - was filled to the brim with quirky sculptures and teddy bears set against elegant vintage furniture, displayed in such a way that Iris could make up stories about them. For example, there was a real life sized ostrich sculpture which had a secret compartment in one wing that could hold a bottle of alcohol, and perched on top of this ostrich was Kermit the Frog wearing green star shaped sunglasses. Iris told us in the film that Kermit had discovered the secret hiding place in the ostrich and had now become a bit of a lush, made even more convincing by the drooped arm around the ostrich's neck.
What cracked me up throughout this film was this woman's amazing sense of humour and self-confidence. Her repeated pleas at styling events for people to be more individual and unique, and for people to have fun with their outfits was something that really struck a chord with me. The amount of times I have seen things in a shop and thought "Oh, that would look great styled with this and if I wore that...but I can't pull that off" is unbelievable. If I had a pound for every time it had happened, my bank account would look a substantial amount healthier.
With all the achievements she has accomplished in her life, and there have been many, one thing becomes very clear: we need to have more fun - both in our lives and with our clothes.
When we were children we had this amazing creative imagination and I think Iris never lost this trait - something we should all be striving to find again. We need to have more fun with the way we dress, we need to express ourselves in more ways than speech, and Iris Apfel is definitely the perfect role model for that. A true icon.
Until next time
- Melissa