Tributes flow for ‘accidental’ style icon Iris Apfel, dead at 102

The designer, who was well into her eighties when she became publicly known in the fashion world, died at her Florida home.

Iris Apfel at her 100th Birthday Party at Central Park Tower on September 9, 2021 in New York City. Picture: Getty Images

Tributes have been paid to style icon Iris Apfel, who has died at the age of 102.

Revered for her theory that “more is more and less is a bore”, the interior designer turned self-proclaimed “accidental icon” is thought to have died at her home in Palm Springs, Florida on Friday.

Tommy Hilfiger said Apfel “will go down in history”. He added: “Iris Apfel has become a world-famous fashion icon because of her incredible talent not only as an artist, but as an influencer. She has had an amazing effect on so many people with her huge heart and magic touch with everyone she meets.”

Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham hailed Apfel for the “joy and endless style you brought to so many”.

An It girl of sorts, Apfel, was well into her 80s when she became publicly known, having spent her formative years as an antique interiors expert.

In 2005, she was asked to create a show for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and the world fell for her unapologetic adoration for fashion and interiors that were as bold as they were brave.

In a culture weighed down with the fetishism of youth, here was a woman who was growing old disgracefully with all the confidence of a 25-year-old. She became the star of fashion campaigns and magazine shoots.

The obsession amused Apfel and her husband, Carl, who died in 2015, aged 100. “My husband and I laugh about it all the time,” she told Dazed and Confused, which made her its cover star in 2012. “I’m not doing anything different than 70 years ago and all of a sudden I’m so hot and cool, and whatever the hell the kids say I am.”

THE SUNDAY TIMES