On the eve of her 100th birthday on August 29, interior designer and fashion icon Iris Apfel has even more cause to celebrate: She has been named the winner of the Andrée Putman Lifetime Achievement Award. The award, which is in its third year, recognizes Apfel’s singular vision and colorful career as she continues to shape the zeitgeist. It is the highest accolade among The Créateurs Design Awards, which celebrate the best-in-class makers and innovators from around the world who are pushing design forward. (Submissions for its numerous other design award categories officially open today.)
Nominated by a global committee of more than 200 distinguished creatives, she joins previous laureates including the American architect, writer, and educator Robert A.M. Stern and French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. Apfel will be feted at The Créateurs Design Awards in January 2022, right around Paris Design Week.
Born in Queens, New York, the 99-year-old’s preternatural eye for playful textiles and eclectic color combinations was nurtured by her grandmother, whose spare fabrics doubled as sources of inspiration for the only child. She went on to work at Women’s Wear Daily and assisted interior designer Elinor Johnson before opening her own textile firm, Old World Weavers, with her late husband Carl Apfel in 1950.
Since then, the flamboyant mix-master has become ensconced in popular culture. The Apfel treatment is easy to identify in her more-is-more assemblage of objects and clothes: Her everyday wear features masses of costume jewelry that clinks against embroidered Chinese robes, while neck ruffs and Peter Pan collars add an air of formality to jeans. Her image has inspired collaborations from makeup to glassware—even a Barbie has been created in Apfel’s likeness—and her style has been mined for films and exhibitions (recall the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2005 exhibition, “Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection”).
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As she has grown older, Apfel’s sphere of influence has spread even wider, resonating with younger generations who also approach clothing and design with a maximalist confidence. It’s no surprise that her impact pervades our design consciousness today. The originality she injects into her outfits and milieu—including her New York home—is a welcome balm for staving off sartorial restlessness and general uncertainty in 2021’s COVID-induced malaise.
Yuri Xavier, cofounder of The Créateurs Design Awards, echoes the honoree’s enduring contribution. “In an industry full of powerful personalities, Iris’s legacy transcends her body of work into something more,” he says, “leading her to become a pop culture phenomenon and a crucial figure in the world of fashion and design.”
