Iris Apfel Quotes

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Choices Fashion Fun Giving Husband Jewelry Mothers

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.

Iris Apfel

Girl, Thinking, Order

"Iris Apfel’s Art of Style" by Richard Brody, www.newyorker.com. April 29, 2015.

341 Copy quote
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.

Iris Apfel

Fashion, Attitude, Keys

302 Copy quote
When you don't dress like everybody else, you don't have to think like everybody else.

Iris Apfel

Inspiring, Fashion, Thinking

"At 90, Fashion’s Latest Pop Star". Interview with Ruth La Ferla, www.nytimes.com. August 23, 2011.

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I say, dress to please yourself. Listen to your inner muse and take a chance. Wear something that says 'Here I am!' today.

Iris Apfel

Confidence, Fashion, Here I Am

274 Copy quote
If you don’t learn constantly, you don’t grow and you will wither. Too many people wither on the vine. Sure, it gets a little harder as you get older, but new experiences and new challenges keep it fresh.

Iris Apfel

New Experiences, People, Challenges

249 Copy quote
More is more and less is a bore.

Iris Apfel

Fashion, Bores

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

Iris Apfel

Waste, Wasting Time

ELLE Interview, www.elle.com. April 27, 2015.

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

Iris Apfel

Style, Matter, Not Pretty

"Fashion icon celebrated in final film by Albert Maysles" by Edward Helmore, www.theguardian.com. March 7, 2015.

249 Copy quote
If you're lucky enough to get old, I think you should celebrate it.

Iris Apfel

Positive, Thinking, Lucky

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

Iris Apfel

Interesting, Not Interested, Ifs

214 Copy quote
You only have one trip. You might as well enjoy it.

Iris Apfel

Might, Enjoy, Wells

198 Copy quote
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.

Iris Apfel

Mother, Husband, Night

218 Copy quote
I’m a hopeless romantic. I buy things because I fall in love with them. I never buy anything just because it’s valuable. My husband used to say I look at a piece of fabric and listen to the threads. It tells me a story. It sings me a song. I have to get a physical reaction when I buy something. A coup de foudre – a bolt of lightning. It’s fun to get knocked out that way!

Iris Apfel

Song, Falling In Love, Fun

" "Iris Apfel: the muse of New York" by Jess Cartner-Morley, www.theguardian.com. March 13, 2012.

208 Copy quote
Never be afraid to stop traffic.

Iris Apfel

Being Yourself, Traffic

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If you can't be pretty, you have to learn to make yourself attractive. I found that all the pretty girls I went to high school with came to middle age as frumps, because they just got by with their pretty faces, so they never developed anything. They never learned how to be interesting. But if you are bereft of certain things, you have to make up for them in certain ways. Don't you think?

Iris Apfel

Girl, School, Thinking

"Iris Apfel, fashion darling. Aged 88" by Gaby Wood, www.theguardian.com. January 16, 2010.

212 Copy quote
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.

Iris Apfel

Thinking, Individuality, Jewelry

138 Copy quote
I was never hurt by what anybody said about my clothes, because I dress to please myself. If somebody doesn’t like what I’m wearing, it’s their problem, not mine

Iris Apfel

Hurt, Clothes, Dresses

209 Copy quote
If you hair is done properly and you're wearing good shoes, you can get anyway with anything.

Iris Apfel

Life, Beauty, Hair

158 Copy quote
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.

Iris Apfel

Spring, Believe, Thinking

183 Copy quote
Fashion you can buy, but style you possess.

Iris Apfel

Fashion, Style

"Sage Style Advice From Fashion Icon Iris Apfel" by Lorraine Cwelich, www.elle.com. September 20, 2013.

131 Copy quote
You have to look in the mirror and see yourself. If it feels good, then I know it's for me. I don't dress to be stared at, I dress for myself.

Iris Apfel

Mirrors, Feel Good, Dresses

184 Copy quote
I’m a great believer in common sense, and the older I get I see that common sense is not that common

Iris Apfel

Common Sense, Common, Believer

60 Copy quote
I see myself as the world's oldest living teenager... I try to get as much kick out of things as possible.

Iris Apfel

Teenager, Trying, World

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

Iris Apfel

Past, Views, Havens

"Iris Apfel, fashion darling. Aged 88" by Gaby Wood, www.theguardian.com. January 16, 2010.

20 Copy quote
I just mix and put things together the way the spirit moves me.

Iris Apfel

Moving, Together, Way

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Latest quotes from interviews

"My mother gave me very good advice years ago. I grew up in the Great Depression and she always told me to get a good little basic black dress - well-cut, well-made, good fabric - and it could take me through everything. I could go to the office in the morning and stay out all day in the same dress. Just by changing accessories, because they are so transformative, you can make six different outfits. I find that very useful. My mother worshipped at the altar of accessories and I'm an accessory freak, as everybody knows. That, I got from my mother."

- Iris Apfel,

www.elle.com, added Aug 15, 2017

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Iris Apfel

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Born: August 29, 1921
Occupation: Interior designer
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