You have to observe a few simple rules in dressing, which are really not rules; it's just being appropriate. If you're 70 and want to wear miniskirts, 70-year-old knees ain't pretty!
Iris ApfelYou donโt have to look like an old fuddy-duddy, but I believe it was Chanel who said, โNothing makes a woman look so old as trying desperately hard to look youngโ. I think you can be attractive at any age. I think trying to look like a spring chicken when youโre not makes you look ridiculous.
Iris ApfelI don't happen to like pretty things. I don't like pretty dresses. I like more attractive. I like people that look a little bit more offbeat. I don't like the classic pretty face. That doesn't mean it's not pretty or it's not wonderful, and most people don't agree with me, but that's the way I think.
Iris ApfelI think that if you have to work very hard at dressing up and it makes you nervous or uptight, then you won't look very well because you won't be comfortable. I think it's much better to be comfortable and happy than well dressed, don't you?
Iris ApfelMy 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