Iris Apfel Quotes

I don't care what people think ... I learned a long time ago ... I was 19 and had a very traumatic experience ... .and I learned that I have to go to bed with myself at night and that I have to please myself ... and as long as I don't go out of my way to offend anybody that I love, upset my mother or my husband ... I'll do my own thing. And if the public doesn't like it, it's their problem, not mine.

I don't do very much for beauty. I use very simple things on my skin. I haven't got time. I would always get facials and then come home laden with product, and pay a lot of money and never use it. Anyway, one day a dermatologist told me to use Cetaphil to clean my face and as a moisturizer, and that's what I do.

I used to love to create outfits, and I still do - I just don't have the time. How can you wear one thing and never wear it again? Even my wedding dress - I had a dress made that I could wear again. I'm a child of the depression, so I'm very, very practical.

I live in the Dark Ages, the 17th century. Actually, I would have loved to be in Paris in the early 20th century when the Ballets Russes were there and Chanel was designing.

I never felt pretty. I don't feel pretty now. I'm not a pretty person. I don't like pretty. So I don't feel badly. And I think it worked out well, because I found that all the girls I know who got by on their looks, as time went on and they faded, they were nothing. And they were very disappointed. When you're somebody like myself, in order to get around and be attractive, you have to develop something, you have to learn something, you have to do something. So you become a bit more interesting.

I think jewelry can change an outfit more than anything else. Transformation, punch, individuality: One or all of the above are why you should wear jewelry.

I think some people like me because I'm different. I don't think like everybody else. People are so tied up in the worst parts of technology these days. They live a life pressing buttons. They don't use their imaginations.

I love high-end designers, but a head-to-toe designer look for me is extremely boring. I've always mixed it up.

Clothes are not frippery. Properly done, they can be an art form.

I've always been attracted to unusual eyewear. I thought glasses were an interesting accessory, depending on the shape of your face. People would always ask me, "Why are your frames so large?" And I would say, "The bigger to see you!" And that shut them up.

Nobody is original anymore. Nobody has any original style.

In my view, you can't go to the future if you haven't come from the past.

You're not pretty, and you'll never be pretty. But, it doesn't matter. You have something much better. You have style.

The world is not black and white; there are lots of shades of grey. There are good things and bad things in every era, and I think it's kind of very blindfolded to say one era was wonderful, as it was wonderful, but there were a lot of bad things as well.

You can't just say, "I'm gonna have style." You have to work at it. It's intuitive; some people have it, and some people can work on it all day long, and it will never happen.

I was always known in my industry, and I always enjoyed a modicum of popularity.

I'm not a pretty person. I don't like pretty, so I don't feel badly. Most of the world is not with me, but I don't care.

If you put something together and it doesn't look so good,
the fashion police are not going to come and take you away.
And if they do, you might have some fun in jail.

You only have one trip. You might as well enjoy it.

Fashion and interior design are one and the same.

You can be born with the talent to be an opera star, but you've got to work and practice it.

Being an individual takes effort. Most people are pretty lazy. And that's OK! I mean, there are more important things than fashion. If it's going to stress you out to have a sense of style, don't do it. The important thing is to be comfortable so you can get on with your life.

I'm not a minimalist, as I'm sure you've noticed.

You can't try to be somebody you're not; that's not style. If someone says, 'Buy this - you'll be stylish,' you won't be stylish because you won't be you. You have to learn who you are first, and that's painful.

When you don't dress like everyone else, you don't have to think like everyone else.

Fashion really is women's liberation in a lot of ways. Look at how many women in this country are depressed about how they look and how they think they have to look! It's really sad. And it's not about money.

The worst fashion faux pas is looking in the mirror and seeing somebody else.

I don't get dressed up every day. I'm very busy. I get really annoyed when people talk about me as a 'fashionista.' I get dressed up when I have to go out. Most of the time, I'm running around in jeans.

I'm making a lot of noise as I walk.

I think people have to sharpen their eyes and look. I always feel like a big sponge: I feel like I learn lots of things by osmosis, and I feel that I'm always absorbing. I mean, when people say, 'What is your inspiration?' I could throw up. I mean, I'm inspired by the fact I get up in the morning. And I'm still here.

To me there are lots more important things in the world than just having the right shoes!

The fun of getting dressed is it's a creative experience.

I find that if I get up and push myself, I get lost in what I'm doing, and I forget about everything else until I stop doing it.

To lead the good life in New York, the two most important things for a woman are a chauffeur and a fur-lined raincoat. If you have those two things, you're made.

I think fashion is just part of my life and if it hadn't of been fashion then it would have been something else.

Fashion has this youth mania. But 70-year-old ladies don't have 18-year-old bodies, and 18-year-olds don't have a 70-year-old's dollars.

I don't expect to find inspiration. It just sort of comes. Sometimes you step on a bug and you get inspired.

You don't find out who you are unless you work at it.

These are things I love, things I've worn. I get more compliments on accessories than anything else. I think they're kind of like herbs and spices. They give zest and zing to an outfit.

Coco Chanel said take one thing off. I always said put another one on.

Just because you get to a certain number doesn't mean you have to roll up into a ball and wait for the grim reaper. We were put on this earth to do something! If you stop using your brain, at any age, it is going to stop working. It's like if you stop using your hand, it will atrophy. I think doing nothing is a curse.

We did major work at the White House. But what people often don't understand is that when you do a historic restoration, you can't just do whatever you want. You work alongside the fine-arts commission and are obliged to create a replica of the past, as close as humanly possible. It's a historic institution, not a showhouse.

I'm from New York. My grandparents were settlers of Long Island City. When they came here, there was no bridge, and they had to hire a boat across the river. They had a farm, and my grandmother had to go once a week to Manhattan to buy provisions - very primitive.

You have to be interested. If you're not interested, you can't be interesting.

I go out in New York, and I think, boy, you can look at someone and pretty much determine their zip code. Everyone seems to want to conform. I wonder, are they all just button-pressers, on the Internet all day long? I don't know.

When the fun goes out of getting dressed, you might as well be dead.

I think people try so hard to learn everything that they miss all the wonderful essentials. There is so much mystery in life that you should leave a mystery.

If you're over 60, arms are not pretty, so I think you should stay covered up. But wear what's appropriate for what you're doing, how you live, and what your lifestyle is.

I do have a dominant shopping gene but, unlike a reasonable person, I never plan for what I need each season. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the discovery and the endless search. In another creation I was, perhaps, a hunter/gatherer. After all these years, I've learned that it's not the end result or finished product but the process I most enjoy. If my experimenting, searching and juxtaposing turns into an exciting outfit well, it's just a big fat bonus!

I like to improvise.

Why do I wear such large glasses?
The bigger to see you with, my dear.
Anyway, you have to have fun. If you can't have fun, you might as well be dead.

I didn't have children, but I never wanted children.

I don't think dressing has anything to do with numbers. I know people of 30 who act like they're 97, and I have a few old-bag friends who are very hip.

I think dressing up or down should be a creative experience. Exciting. Fun. For me the key to personal style lies in accessories. I love objects from different worlds, different eras, combined my way. Never uptight, achieving - hopefully - a kind of throwaway chic

You don't have to look like an old fuddy-duddy, but I believe it was Chanel who said, 'Nothing makes a woman look so old as trying desperately hard to look young'. I think you can be attractive at any age. I think trying to look like a spring chicken when you're not makes you look ridiculous.

I just never want to completely grow up.

It's better to be happy than well-dressed.

I love a nice hot pink. I like thick lipstick, otherwise it doesn't look like you're wearing any.

My father told me once not to expect anything from anybody so I wouldn't be disappointed. If somebody was nice and did nice things for me, I should be overjoyed, but I shouldn't go through life expecting it, which is very good advice.

I'll spend more time getting dressed than I spent at the actual event.

Self-exploration is very painful, but unless you do that, you will never know who you are and who you want to be.

Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There's no how-to road map to style. It's about self-expression and, above all, attitude.

In America, it has been proven that the bulk of spending money is in the hands of women between 60 and 80, so it's so stupid. The people who do have the time and money to shop are either retired or empty-nesters.

I had the good fortune to be able to take a course with Margaret Mead. I had a fabulous art course, where it was explained to me that nothing exists in a vacuum, that everything is a result of the period in which it's done - the economics, the sociology, the politics, all sewn together. That was a very important lesson.

Oh my God, I'm a walking advertisement for discounted shopping.

I don't look at Instagram. I don't have much to do with social media.

My look is either very baroque or very Zen - everything in between makes me itch.

I swear on everything holy I do not know what's on the Internet about me.

You can change the look of an outfit so easily by changing the kind of jewellery you wear. If you have a basic outfit on - a black sweater and skirt or a simple black dress - you can go from the office to a cocktail party at night just by changing your jewellery. It helps if you change your shoes as well.

I always tell people I'm very large in Uzbekistan.

Technologically, I live in the 17th century; I don't have a computer, I don't have any of that stuff. I don't look at the Internet, although I know people tell me I'm all over it. Somebody told me they Googled me, and they said I was mentioned two million times, some stupid thing ... but who cares?

I've always loved to help people, young people in particular.

I have ideas that I think might be amusing, and I try them, and if they look right, I carry them out, and if they don't, I throw them out and try something else. I don't agonize about it.

Throughout history, clothes represented who you were; they are a great vehicle for explaining who you are. During the Ching dynasty, for example, what you wore and how it was made reflected your status in society. People could literally read your clothes like a book, just by its color and how it was embroidered.

I'm delighted that gay people want to get married and I say why not! It's nobody's business and I would happily give my blessing.

I don't have any rules, because I would only be breaking them, so it's a waste of time

Style is attitude, attitude, attitude!

I can't tell people how to have style. No amount of money can buy you style. It's just instinctive.

I think people should express themselves more and not just buy what's in. While it can be very beautiful, and it may suit you perfectly, I'm sure it doesn't suit everyone in the same way. I like people who express themselves and are more individualistic.

You have to push yourself when you're older because it's very easy to fall into the trap. You start to fall apart - you just have to do your best to paste yourself together. I think doing things and being active is very important. When your mind is busy, you don't hurt so much.

Humor is important in everything. Dress with a little humor and you can go a long way.

It's better to be happy than to be well-dressed.

I am not a fashionista, and I don't dress up. Usually if I'm at home, where I am now, I'm wearing a robe.

If there was a choice on spending a lot of money on accessories or dress, I always chose accessories. I think jewelry can change an outfit more than anything else.

I always feel that if you're gonna be uncomfortable and unhappy in something, just because you think it's in or it's chic, I would advise you to be happy rather than well-dressed. It's better to be happy.

When you're older, no matter how good your humor is you don't always feel perky and peppy. But if you sit home all day and brood about it, it gets worse.

You don't have to be an artist to be a creator, because creativity comes in a lot of forms, like cooking or keeping a house or dressing well. What you need is imagination, to make things up for yourself.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but I think it's violently misused.

I wasn't interested at all in doing a documentary. I was not a public figure.

When you go to a nice restaurant, you want to be relaxed and have a drink and everything, you want to look at people who look well. You don't want to look at some slob with an open shirt and a hairy chest. At least I don't.

I absolutely consider fashion a form of art. Of course, there is some fashion that is not art at all - it's utilitarian, made for the purpose of covering up. And there are a lot of people out there who put a lot of effort into looking awful. But there are also people putting the same amount of energy into making bad art.

I was in art school since I was five years old. I've always been to art school. Everything that's happened to me, nothing's been planned. I've never had a business plan. I just kind of fell into it, and I liked it, and I took a chance. I took a lot of chances in my life.

There was Pauline de Rothschild, who I thought was very fabulous, and Millicent Rogers, the Standard Oil heiress, very chic, very clever, very original. I admired both those women very much. And I had a great example with my mother, who was extremely chic.

I don't spend my life getting dressed! I have to put clothes on during the day; I don't get dressed up at all when I'm working. I'll wear jeans, or something very simple.

I think if women put some more of the time and money they put on their heads in their heads, they'd be better off.

My mother knew if you bought a couple of really good architectural outfits and put your money into accessories, you could create a million different looks. She taught that to me, which I think was invaluable.

I mix everything up. A museum curator once said to me that there is a great jazz component to the way I do things because good jazz is improvisation and draws elements from all different cultures. And that's the way I do everything - the way I dress and decorate.

I still have the dress I wore on the first date with my husband, which was more than 66 years ago. I still have it, and it still fits.

I never expect anything. I just feel things in my gut and I do them. If something sounds exciting and interesting, I do it - and then I worry about it later. Doing new things takes a lot of energy and strength. It's very tiring to make things happen, to learn how to master a skill, to push fears aside. Most people would rather just go with the flow, it's much easier. But it's not very interesting.

I'm a hopeless romantic. I buy things because I fall in love with them. I never buy anything just because it's valuable.