We all have our own perspective of what we believe is fashionable, on trend or simply looks good on an individual in terms of garments and attire. I myself as a fashion student have my own critical views and a visual understanding of seasonal fashion trends whether they be megatrends, micro trends or the odd fad that we will see burst onto the fashion scene, then die instantly after heavy promotion and consumer interest. However, in today's fashion industry why should there be so much emphasis on luxury brand new machine made fashions when there is so many other understated hand craft fashion pieces within vintage shops and boutiques that can be accessed. Yes, designers need to keep up with current trends and products to maintain their customer attraction and to differentiate themselves from competitors in the market, but where are those statement pieces gone that look like they have been pulled out of Pandora's Box?
After watching the film documentary 'Iris' I observed that Iris Apfel, a legendary collector of fashion, uses her experience of culture and fashion to offer a retrospective artistic acknowledgement to the fashion industry through vintage apparels, realising that if you hang onto things long enough, they will come back in trend. She also shows an interest in not so typical designer fashions and instead, digs deep into the streets of Harlem to find distinctive and unusual pieces which yes, are in some cases unaffordable but ever so unique. This interest in vintage garments is something that many professionals in the industry neglect as we carry on living in this modern 21st century society, seeing brands debut their new regurgitated machine made garments that have not been created by the directors or designers themselves.
Apfel most definitely rejects the ageism that is received by her age group which categorically sees the old becoming a useless demographic time bomb. She does this by using her skills to her full potential and by doing so, she has become such an in demand fashion businesswomen, receiving 50 + phone calls a day from people who want to work with her or receive inspiration for fashion. Therefore, this adrenaline, emotionally allows Apfel to feel nineteen again when she receives her fixation of fashion, forgetting her physical age but also allowing her to use the knowledge and curiosity she has grew up in terms of the interrelations between economical, social and political forces that have influenced fashion over the past century. This knowledge is certainly something that many designers nowadays lack. Apfel agrees with my statement in the documentary as she confidently disapproves of those who try to buy their style by submissively following popular forced trends, rather than using clothes as a self explanatory tool and a means to express their own identity. Apfel's identity is one which is arguably influenced by all different cultural aspects and global regions.
Iris Apfel's proves that her fashion and style is individual and is far from anything categorised as boring and at the age of 94, she demonstrates that one does not have to be in their 20's, buying the most luxury, in demand product within today's market to be the most stylish person around. She continues every day, as she has for the past eight decades, to come up with new innovating and different ways to demonstrate fashion as a montage of art rather than something mediocre and seen on every other fashion icon. She takes classic fashions and gives it her own twist by pairing dinner jackets indulged with fur accessories and bizarre heavy couture costume jewellery to really play with the way she dresses. Therefore she provides an image of both fantasy and glamour for her fans. However, most importantly she connects with her followers to communicate the message that it is better to be happy than to dress well and to her, everything she buys has memories. Therefore, her collection never goes out of season and is classical in a personal way. Her eclectic visionary allows her to demographically draw in fans from all walks of life and social groups such as various classes, genders and ages.
Apfel being filmed with her fans at Loehmann's
Referring back to the idea of the age of fashion icons, Iris, once named the geriatric starlit for her work, has been photographed in a juxtaposing way for the edgy, youthful magazine Dazed and Confused, proving that in this age obsessed society, you don't have to be young, fresh faced or reaching ten million followers on Instagram to be on the front cover of one of the most popular fashion magazines in the world. This magazine article also indicates that major brands are acknowledging the buying power of women of an older generation and swapping young social media made models for famous women who are 50+ in fashion and beauty campaigns.
Dazed and Confused November 2012: The Art Issue
Shot by Jeff Bark at Apfel's home in Manhattan and styled by Robbie Spencer in Rei Kawakubo’s 2D Comme Des Garcons collection
M Le Monde Magazine La Fleur de L’age Richard Burbridge - October 2014
Dazed Magazine is not the only one to do this, photographer Richard Burbidge has also photographed women of an older generation for this magazine photo shoot.
Furthermore, beauty should not be moulded through the use of plastic surgery or the commercialisation of heavy coverage of makeup, it should be a reality. Everyone knows how old you are, regardless of surgery, so why hide it? Iris may not be Kendall Jenner, but who needs to be with a career, legendary status and bizarre dress sense like Apfel herself.
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