Iris Apfel

Iris Apfel ( AP-fəl; née Barrel; August 29, 1921 – March 1, 2024) was an American businesswoman, interior designer, and fashion designer, known for her flamboyant style, outspoken personality and oversized eyeglasses. In business with her husband, Carl, from 1950 to 1992, Apfel had a career in textiles, including a contract with the White House that spanned nine presidencies. In retirement, she drew acclaim for a 2005 show at the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring her collection of costume jewelry and styled with clothes on mannequins as she would wear them. She became a fashion icon, was the focus of the 2014 Albert Maysles documentary Iris, then signed to IMG in 2019 as a model at age 97.

Born Iris Barrel in to a Jewish family in Astoria, Queens, New York City, on August 29, 1921, Apfel was the only child of Samuel Barrel (1897–1967), whose family owned a glass and mirror business, and his Russian-born wife, Sadye "Syd" Barrel (née Asofsky, 1898–1998), who owned a fashion boutique. Her grandfather Morris Barrel (born Mayer Baril) emigrated from Kamianka-Buzka, Galicia (now Ukraine).

Although raised on a farm by her parents and grandparents, she often rode the subway into the city to explore Manhattan, where she fell in love with Greenwich Village. While still a child, she shopped its antique shops, starting her extraordinary collection of jewellery from around the world. During the Depression, her whole family could sew, drape, glue, and paint, and had a flair for design and style on the smallest of budgets.