(CNN) – For more than a century, Iris Apfel viewed the world through her huge, black-framed glasses with the confidence of a woman who rejected convention and shaped her own style.
Apfel died on Friday at the age of 102, according to a post on his verified Instagram page. He died at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, Stu Loeser, his spokesman, told the New York Times.
The influential interior designer loved chunky accessories, jazz, work and took advantage of every opportunity that came her way – from prestigious art exhibitions to magazine covers, a cosmetics line, a documentary, a modeling contract and even a Barbie doll made in her image.
“I do my best, I’m very passionate about what I do,” Apfel said in a 2018 interview with CNN. “I put my heart and soul into things and that drives me. I push myself until I can't do it anymore.” Do it more and then: “I'll come back for more. I’m a glutton for punishment.”
Born Iris Barrel in 1921 in Queens, New York, she was the only child of Jewish parents Samuel and Sadye Barrel.
She described herself as a “black belt shopper” who made her first purchase at age 11, when her mother gave her $25 for a dress at Easter. It cost $12.95. The shoes and a matching hat cost about $8. The round trip train fare was only $0.10.
These were the years of the Depression. She was a bargain hunter, a collector, a hoarder. In 2015, she told Vanity Fair that she was still wearing the dress she wore on her first date with her late husband Carl Apfel some 68 years ago. He died in 2015, just days before his 101st birthday. She described him at the time as “a very generous and very funny man.”
They married in 1948 and a few years later founded Old World Weavers, a business that allowed the couple to pursue their passion for fabrics and travel. They flew between continents in search of vintage textiles for client bookings, which increasingly included Estée Lauder, Greta Garbo and no fewer than nine US presidents.
Apfel was a celebrated interior designer for decades, and her famous personal style earned her numerous brand collaborations and a major modeling contract at age 97. (Jemal Countess/WireImage/Getty Images)
“(Designing for the White House) was actually a relatively easy task because everything had to be as human as possible,” Apfel told The Guardian in 2015.
That was until Jackie Kennedy moved there. “He commissioned a very famous Parisian designer to decorate the house and convert it into a true French style, and the design community went crazy. After that we had to throw everything overboard and start over,” said Apfel.
A lasting influence
Apfel never really retired (she once said that retirement was “a fate worse than death”), although her life took a somewhat quieter turn in 2005 when she was asked by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to host an exhibition of his Organize accessories. She was in her early 80s at the time and curator Harold Koda had heard that she had one of the finest costume jewelry collections in the United States.
First, Koda asked for accessories and jewelry and then five complete outfits, Apfel wrote in her book “Accidental Icon: Musings from a Geriatric Scarlet.” But when Apfel, Koda and their Met Museum staff finished exploring their intricate wardrobe, closets and storage boxes, they walked away with 300 outfits and hundreds of accessories.
The “Rara Avis” exhibition was the museum’s first to honor a living woman who was not a fashion designer. It was a success and Apfel was celebrated worldwide as a style icon.
This caused his public profile to skyrocket.
Apfel front row at New York Fashion Week with model Karolina Kurkova, 2016. (Michael Stewart/WireImage/Getty Images)
At 90, she was the face of a Kate Spade advertising campaign, created her own makeup line with MAC Cosmetics and designed her own range of accessories, clothing and furniture for the Home Shopping Network.
She had already appeared in fashion magazines such as Vogue Italia and Dazed & Confused when, in 2019, at the age of 97, the renowned agency IMG offered her a modeling contract, joining a circle of famous models such as Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls, Chrissy Teigen and Bella and Gigi Hadid.
He may have had his own brand, but Apfel wasn't inspired by designer names. She enjoyed browsing flea markets as much as she did luxury stores, looking for unusual pieces to pile onto her small frame.
He had 2.9 million followers on Instagram but expressed disdain for social media.
“It’s too intrusive,” he told CNN in 2018. “I don't care what you ate and I don't care who you sleep with… It's a huge waste of time.”
Apfel was once asked to describe his attitude to life in just three words. “Just a trip,” he said.
Then he added a few more: “It’s better to live it.”
CNN's Rob Frehse contributed to this report.