Iris Apfel Quotes

I'm not a minimalist, as I'm sure you've noticed.

Fashion you can buy, but style you possess.

There are absolutely no rules about style at all. Not for me.

I think fashion today is horrible. Just open your eyes and look! What's good about it? There's no originality. Here and there, there is, but in general, en masse, there's very little creativity and very little originality. It's kind of boring. Everybody looks alike. Everybody seems to strive to look alike.

I don't pay attention to things like the talent for style. I don't meditate on things like that. I just do whatever I think I should do and go with it, and if people like it, then I'm very happy about it. And if not, I always figure it's their problem not mine.

If you're over 60, arms are not pretty, so I think you should stay covered up. But wear what's appropriate for what you're doing, how you live, and what your lifestyle is.

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.

I don't dress to be stared at. I dress for myself.

To lead the good life in New York, the two most important things for a woman are a chauffeur and a fur-lined raincoat. If you have those two things, you’re made.

I had to be my own person and live my own life if I wanted to be happy, and I just did it.

My secret to having a happy relationship is having a sense of humour and giving one another space: your own space.

I find that if I get up and push myself, I get lost in what I'm doing, and I forget about everything else until I stop doing it.

I think if women put some more of the time and money they put on their heads in their heads, they’d be better off.

You can't try to be somebody you're not; that's not style.

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

I've found that when I was young, all the pretty girls at school got all the dates and went to all the big parties and everything because they were pretty. They never bothered to develop anything. And as they aged, their prettiness faded and they were left as middle-aged women who were very, very unhappy and disappointed. But I can't feel sorry for them because that was their own doing.

First you have to know who you are. That is the most important thing, as if you don't know who you are you will either get swallowed up or you follow some unsuitable trends and just become a nonentity.

I live in the 17th century. I don't have a computer. I don't look at the internet. I use a cellphone, and that's about my only connection to the modern world.

I don't believe in rules. It's different for everybody. Everyone has to make their own decision and find out what's comfortable for them.

I always feel that if you're gonna be uncomfortable and unhappy in something, just because you think it's in or it's chic, I would advise you to be happy rather than well-dressed. It's better to be happy.

I don't spend my life getting dressed! I have to put clothes on during the day; I don't get dressed up at all when I'm working. I'll wear jeans, or something very simple.

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

The woman should learn who she is and what she looks like and try to find the best points of dress accordingly. I also think that being appropriate has gone out of fashion. There are appropriate times to wear appropriate kinds of clothes.

Our culture puts a lot of pressure on the idea that a woman's self-worth is defined by her looks. It's just awful. And they also put a tremendous premier on youth, which is so, so debilitating and upsetting to so many women. I don't know why they're so dopey. Seriously. I don't see any problem with that and if you do, you should celebrate it. Don't chop your face up.

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!

Technologically I live in the 17th century. I have a very simple cell phone. I say I live through the kindness of strangers, because if they see something on the Net they type it out and send it to me.

I don't have too much time to shop. I have such a back log of stuff at home. I tend to get temperative once in awhile. I don't need anything, so if I see something that knocks me out, then I'm buying it. It's getting harder and harder because things are getting more homogenized.

My mother worshipped at the altar of the accessory.

I 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?

I'm not going to be a rebel and offend anybody, but I'm not going to live in somebody else's image.

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!

I love a nice hot pink. I like thick lipstick, otherwise it doesn't look like you're wearing any.

Style means you have a real curiosity about yourself and then you express it. Having style is not copying somebody else.

I think you're born with style, but you have to develop it. You can be born with the talent to be an opera star, but you've got to work and practice it.

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

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

There are so many empty headed people in the fashion business who take themselves way too seriously and I don't think I am at all like one of them. To me there are lots more important things in the world than just having the right shoes!

My mother knew if you bought a couple of really good architectural outfits and put your money into accessories, you could create a million different looks. She taught that to me, which I think was invaluable.

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.

If there was a choice on spending a lot of money on accessories or dress, I always chose accessories. I think jewelry can change an outfit more than anything else.

Style is attitude, attitude, attitude!

My mother worshipped at the alter of accessories and I got the bug. She always said, if you have a good, little, simple black dress and you have different accessories, you can have 27 different outfits.

To me there are lots more important things in the world than just having the right shoes!

I don't think dressing has anything to do with numbers. I know people of 30 who act like they're 97, and I have a few old-bag friends who are very hip.

I'm delighted that gay people now want to get married and I say why not! It's nobody's business and I would happily give my blessing.

More is more and less is a bore.

If you don't have any individuality and you're happy just being one of the girls (or boys) be my guest. I'm not the fashion police. I won't fault you.

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