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Last Friday, the American interior designer turned fashion influencer Iris Apfel died aged 102. Her eclectic way of dressing, featuring a discordance of colours, patterns and textures, broke all the standard fashion rules and amassed her legions of fans. Here, some of them explain how they, too, dress for joy.
Sade Adeyemi, head of people at a tech company/stylist
My father used to work in a textile company. At Christmas he would come home with some fabrics and I would get to pick – I always gravitated towards the very bold and colourful prints. As I grew older I realised that part of the reason I loved them so much is that I could mix and match unexpected combinations to experiment. I’m loving orange and neon green at the moment.
I love Iris so much. She was fearless, she was bold. She said something I totally agree with, which is “more is more and less is a bore”. I just love more is more – keep giving it to me and I’ll keep trying it on. I know naturally some people are minimalists and I do appreciate that. But fashion is having confidence in whatever you’re wearing. For me, colour is life!
I do a lot of vintage shopping and upcycling. I had a pair of shoes I’d never worn and I upcycled them with red uninflated balloons, about 95 per shoe. The balloons cost me £4 and the glue cost me about £3. People thought it was from a high-end brand. I upcycled a blazer that I hadn’t worn in more than three years. I Googled butterflies and found some decorative ones for about £3, different colours, different sizes. I have worn it over and over. Another time I bought green pompoms from a local lady who sells sewing materials and attached them to an oversized pink blazer.
I think rules in dressing can provide structure and foundation but true style for me emerges when I feel as if I’m breaking the rules. The way I dress now is different to how I dressed five years ago. Over time you will find yourself, you will evolve and discover what you’re most comfortable in. Rule-based dressing should be a foundation, not a limitation.
I grew up with a generation that is used to colour and this kind of weird dressing – the Harajuku, kawaii movement in mid/late-90s Japan. When I got to London in 2000, it was a time when lots of underground designers were doing very challenging designs. I was always surrounded by colours and unique looks.
The way I dress is just having fun! I always have a theme. If it’s Mother’s Day I’ll probably wear something related to mothers; if it’s Pancake Day I’ll dress in an apron or a chef’s outfit. If I had to attend a birthday party I would probably dress in a birthday cake T-shirt or something like that.
I’m a chameleon. I dress in every single colour from black to white to silver to orange to green to pink. I don’t wear costumes. You can dress crazy, but I don’t want to end up looking like Halloween.
I get fun reactions on social media. Luckily I have followers who are very supportive; I don’t get any negative comments. Of course the general public doesn’t understand some of my outfits, and some people point at me and laugh. In the fashion industry everybody dresses quite seriously or tries to be cool, and I’ve never found that fun. I don’t mind being a clown on the street; I’m not scared of people laughing at me. Iris brought so much happiness to other people through colours and dynamic dressing. I wish I had the same energy.
I am the colour queen of the world. My motto is: “Don’t wear beige, it might kill you”, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I was born with a rainbow in my head.
I curate myself every single morning. I love red with anything. With bright pink, with bright orange, with turquoise. I love different shades of red. I love all colour as long as it’s not in the beige and brown and tan family – that adds 15 years to my life.
I make my own clothes. I buy wonderful African wax print fabrics from female dealers, and vintage fabrics from flea markets. I design the garments and have a lovely guy who does the stitching. I buy my rings and bracelets from the same flea market every Thursday – Old Spitalfields, in east London.
I also make these “neckshrines”. They are cultural mashups, shrines to kitsch, sometimes something more profound. They’re very very important to me. I’ve been making them for years and probably have more than a thousand.
I’m 83 years old and I have terrible feet, so I wear Crocs. I love Crocs. I have them in all different colours and I embellish them myself. So the Crocs become works of art.
People stop me and say: “You look amazing.” People are very, very nice. Sometimes when I walk down Roman Road market, London, some of the younger guys say: “I wish my nan dressed like that.” I’ll take it. Once in a while some really insulting person, and it’s usually a man, will say: “This is the way to the clown department.”
There’s too much chromophobia about. For heaven’s sake don’t be afraid of colour. It’s so good for the soul, it’s so good for the mental health, it’s so good for the people around you. If you dress conservatively in dull colours, start with a scarf, start with a bracelet, start adding colours to your outfit and you’ll find that you like it.
Don’t worry about what’s in fashion and what’s not in fashion. Don’t buy fast fashion that is not good for the planet or for anybody. Start being a little bit picky about what you wear. If you can add some art, buy jewellery from an artist. Support small business, it makes so much more sense.
In my 20s, I found myself immersed in a sea of black clothing. Being plus-size I struggled to find things I liked, especially on the high street. Now there is a lot more choice and the internet has allowed me to find other plus-size people who enjoy wearing colour and patterns. So rather than hiding away in dark colours and softer tones, I now feel proud to take up space and show that you can be beautiful no matter what size you are.
I don’t feel I look like me when I see old photographs of my natural brown hair. I’ve experimented with blue and green, but since I tried pink I haven’t looked back. I also wear a lot of wigs. They have been a gamechanger as they can alter a look entirely.
If I’ve got meetings or an event I’ll build my outfit the night before. Layering is key. Colour and pattern remain steadfast pillars in my ever-changing wardrobe. I don’t have basics, but I do have a whole collection of colourful tights. Like Iris Apfel, I relish the art of juxtaposition, blending designer pieces with thrift-store treasures, handmade delights from Etsy, vintage pieces and high-street finds. It’s time for the maximalists to step into the spotlight. This way of dressing is all about fun, flamboyance and expressing yourself.
Zeena Shah, art director and author
In 2020 I started a colour challenge on Instagram. Each day I asked my followers to wear a different colour – red on Mondays, pink on Wednesdays. That’s when I really realised the power colour has. Getting dressed in the morning now brings me so much joy.
I’ll lean into what excites me that day in my wardrobe or what the weather is doing. I tend to stick to a formula because otherwise it can go a bit bonkers and look a bit mad. I’ve got lot of single-colour base layers, which are my wardrobe staples. I try to stick to two to three colours. So, say my bright-green cardigan that has blue piping – I’ll wear that with blue trousers and a dark green bag.
There aren’t any rules. It’s all about caring less what other people think. One of my pet peeves is when someone says: “Oh my child would love that,” and I think: “But I really love it too.” Why does colour and texture clashing have to be just for kids? You have to think about what brings you joy. It doesn’t have to be too eccentric either. Switching basic blue jeans for, say, pink denim is really fun. Or you could even start by just swapping your socks for a brighter colour. It’s all about building your own colour confidence.
I have a bit of a love/hate with colour analysis as they often rule out certain colours and that can feel quite limiting. But it can empower you to try something new. Trends can feel fleeting too, but they do give people the confidence to try something different. Everyone is looking for joy. The world is crazy so we have to find it where we can.
