It
wasn’t
until
1950
that
she
and
her
husband Carl
Apfel,
who
passed
in
August
2015,
started a
textile
company,
Old
World
Weavers.
In
addition
to
running
the
company,
Iris
oversaw
many
restoration
projects for
the
White
House,
working
for
nine
presidents,
including
Harry
S.
Truman,
Dwight
D.
Eisenhower,
John
F.
Kennedy,
Lyndon
B.
Johnson,
Richard
Nixon,
Gerald
Ford,
Jimmy
Carter,
Ronald
Reagan
and
Bill
Clinton.
In
2005,
Iris
was honored
for
her
individuality
by
the
Metropolitan
Museum
of
Art’s
Costume Institute
with
an
exhibit
titled
Rara
Avis
(Rare
Bird):
The
Irreverent
Iris
Apfel. This
marked
the
first
time
the museum
had
ever
created
a
clothing or
accessories
exhibit
on
a
living
person
who
wasn’t
a
designer.
There’s
no
denying
that
Iris,
who
always
said
that “more
is
more
and
less
is
a
bore,”
has
left
an
indelible
mark.
“Being
stylish
and
being
fashionable
are
two
entirely
different
things,”
she
reminded
her Instagram
followers in
August
2022. “You
can
easily
buy
your
way
into
being
fashionable.
Style,
I
think,
is
in
your
DNA.
It
implies
originality
and
courage.
And
the
worst
that
can
happen
when
you
take
a
risk
is
that
you
fail.
And
you
don’t
die
from
that.”
Style
