Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel (Hardcover)

by Eric Boman (Author), Iris Apfel (Author), Harold Koda (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Captures the unique style of fashion maverick Iris Apfel and her exuberantly idiosyncratic personal chic.

With remarkable panache and discernment, Iris Apfel combines styles, colors, textures, and patterns without regard to period, provenance, or aesthetic conventions. Now in her mid-eighties, she is a unique style icon.

Over ninety sumptuous color plates, photographed by Eric Boman, show off a selection of Apfel's extraordinary outfits on wittily posed mannequins, some sporting her trademark outsized spectacles. The originality of her style is typically revealed in her mixing of Dior haute couture with flea-market finds, Dolce & Gabbana lizard trousers with nineteenth-century ecclesiastical vestments, pink Lanvin worn with ropes of Navajo turquoise. Apfel's eclectic pieces might come from a Parisian couture house, an American thrift shop, or a North African souk, or they may have been made to her own design in a tiny studio.

Detailed captions describe every aspect of the outfits, including names and dates of designers, plus full information on fabrics and accessories. A selection of audacious accessories also comes under the spotlight: a giant necklace made of bear claws, a turn-of-the-century Indian horse ornament worn as a necklace, a parrot's-head brooch in colored glass and rhinestones.

The book includes an introduction by Harold Koda, director of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an essay by Apfel herself, describing her lifelong love affair with style and illustrated with vintage photographs from her personal collection. 169 illustrations, 149 in color.

About the Author
Iris Apfel is co-founder of the international textile company Old World Weavers and an authority on antique fabrics. Eric Boman is a highly acclaimed fashion photographer, whose work has been featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, The World of Interiors, and others.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (March 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500513449
• ISBN-13: 978-0500513446
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #98,913 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Iris Apfel, what a rare bird indeed..., April 1, 2007

By	H. Heissmann (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was lucky enough to view the exhibit 'Iris Apfel - Rare Bird of Fashion' at the Norton Museum in Palm Beach, and what a visual treat it was... Not only is she an icon of fashion, but her style, her combinations of colors and her very different approach to the matter is something everybody should see and study. I have seen and met her in New York, she is the most terrific person!!! The book is amazing as well, great photography!!! I will always treasure this book and every time I open it, there is something else to marvel at or read about... An absolutely great source of inspiration, that simply makes you smile! One could only wish there will be other 'rare birds' to follow her lead.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful inspiration, June 11, 2007

By	markss "markss" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This book reminds all its readers that true style grows from individuality. In a time were you would recognize a stylist's style easier than the style of a designer, Iris Apfel's approach to and interpretation of fashion is the light at the end of the tunnel, she certainly has nudged me into the one or the other "true to myself experiment". Iris Apfel's witty introduction perfectly accessoirizes the clothes and jewellery presented, not only poviding background information on how this exhibition came to life but also shedding light on a certainly most interesting and colorful life in a warmhearted and humorous way. This book most certainly will be a longterm occupant of my coffee table.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need more like her!, May 21, 2007

By	C. Olszewski "Style setter" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Loved, loved this book. The comments, the photography and most importantly the crediting of designers to each style was extremely well done. This rare bird of fashion serves us notice that we should embrace our individual style and glory in it and not follow the herd or be shy about manifesting our true "feathers".