Rare Bird of Fashion

One of my favorite designers of accessories is a 90+ year old woman, Iris Apfel.  She is nicknamed the Rare Bird of Fashion.  Thus her line is called Rara Avis.  I purchased her 36″ string of very large resin multicolored beads (white, green, blue, coral, etc.) and wore it in May when we went to the Live with Kelly Ripa and Michael Struhan show.  After the show when they were talking to the audience, Kelly stopped in mid-sentence and said “I love that necklace” to me.  Iris’s jewelry is that kind of fabulous.

She is on HSN today.  If you want to be wowed and have fun,  and maybe buy some fabulous Xmas gifts for yourself or friends, as I did, tune in to HSN this afternoon at 5:00 to 7:00 pm Eastern time or go to HSN.com and search Rara Avis.

Iris is the real deal.  When in Bloomingdale’s in May I saw very beautiful and expensive leather handbags bearing the Iris Apfel label.  Earlier this year The Metropolitan Museum of Art did an exhibition celebrating her style of dress called “Rara Avis and she was honored at a dinner at Bergdorf Goodman.  She announced this morning on HSN that the museum exhibit was traveling to other museums across the country.  Hope it comes to Cleveland!

Vogue or Bazaar magazine did a full page interview with Iris entitled “According to Iris: The chicest ninetysomething we know shares her fashion edicts.”  In answer to the question of what she is most proud of, she responded:  “I’m proud that I’ve been able to have so many different careers, and at 91, I’m still doing new things… I’m always trying to help women be themselves and teach them not to roll up in a ball when they are a certain age.  And in March [2013] my husband and I will have been married 65 years.”

A woman to be admired.  91 years young and still going strong.