Iris Apfel

Several years ago I attended a fashion conference hosted by New York University, and Iris Apfel was a speaker. She spoke of her work in fashion and interior design and shared her personal style tips.

I was immediately taken by Iris’s extraordinary sense of personal style. She mixes high and low – from Haute Couture to flea market finds – and creates a look that is totally unique and all her own. Iris doesn’t abide by trends – she inspires them.

With Iris Apfel at the Ralph Rucci Spring 2010 show

In the years since then, I’ve seen Iris at dozens of fashion soirées: Ralph Rucci calls her a muse and she’s always at his shows. I’ve seen her at events for the Musuem at F.I.T., and she attended a luncheon and book signing that was held for me in Palm Beach. No matter where we run into each other, Iris’s vibrant ensemble and personal panache always leave me impressed.

So it’s exciting to hear that Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel will be opening today at the Peabody Essex Museum, just outside of Boston. It’s a special exhibition featuring more than 80 dramatic looks from Iris’s renowned wardrobe. The show started at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I first saw it, and headed south to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. It then made its way to the Nassau County Museum of Art on Long Island and now you can see it at the Peabody Essex through February of next year. Iris has the coolest, most eclectic finds, and she’s a woman I greatly admire.

Also of note — during the same time that Rare Bird is showing, the Peabody Essex is exhibiting the work of French fashion photographer Valérie Belin. Valérie Belin: Made Up features twenty images of mannequins, models and still lifes in large scale, and apparently it was a very popular retrospective in Europe.

Perhaps a trip to the Boston area is in order!

- exhibition images via boston.com; Susan Tabak and Iris Apfel by Michael N. Todaro