“I didn’t give a damn about going to the party or being at the party, it was getting dressed for the party — and there’s truth and poetry in that,” says fashion icon Iris Apfel, the subject of the late Albert Maysle’s (“Grey Gardens”) new documentary.
The trailer for “Iris” touches on its charismatic leading lady’s trailblazing aesthetic — Apfel suggests she was probably the first woman to wear jeans — as well as her work at the White House, which involved a “problem with Jacqueline [Kennedy]” that’s hilariously alluded to by her husband.
The fashion world can sometimes seem like a harsh and judgmental sphere, so it’s super-refreshing to hear Apfel, who has the largest collection of couture costume jewelry in the US, say, “I can’t judge [what other people wear]. It’s better to be happy than well-dressed” — and really mean it.
Apfel, who is recognized as having a profound impact on both the world of fashion and interior design, has previously been the subject of a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art called “Rare Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel.”
“Iris” premiered at the New York Film Festival and opens April 29.
