Colourful (Hardback) - Iris Apfel

Iris Apfel's legacy
29 August 1921 to 1 March 2024.

In the summer of 2023, as Iris Apfel welcomed her 102nd birthday, she put pen to paper to write this very special project: what Iris called her legacy book.

Comprising of over 200 personal photos and adorned with beautiful, unseen fabric patterns from her Old World Weaver's collection, Iris's incredible energy radiates from every page. Here she shares her creative work, life stories, adventures, and her unwavering belief in the essential power of colour and creativity on a life well lived.

'It has been an honour to know and to learn from Iris.' Ruven Afanador
'A force of nature.' Tommy Hilfiger
'One of the industry's oldest tastemakers.' Vogue

This is not a book of secrets - I have no secrets. Sorry to disappoint if that's what you're looking for. I have some good stories though. And a few ideas. This book is about living, creating and colour. Because creativity and colour matter. I don't want you to dress like me or think like me - that's not the idea of this book. I want you to find the colours, confidence and creative inspiration that reflect you. My life has been filled with love, wonder and a very deep, incurable curiosity. This book is my treasure trove of inspiration, influences and ideas: My source. Be brave. Find your source. What makes you happy?

Much love, Iris x

About the Author

Iris Apfel (1921-2024) was the renowned American businesswoman, interior designer, fashion icon and a prolific collector of and authority on antique textiles. In 1950 she founded Old World Weavers with her husband Carl, an international textile manufacturing company specializing in reproducing antique fabrics. She was a consultant to the White House during nine presidential administrations and produced fabric that still hangs in the Gold Room today. In 2005, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art staged Rara Avis, a blockbuster exhibit of her clothing and accessories, making her the first living person who was not a fashion designer to be so honored. In 2014, she was the subject of director Albert Maysles' award-winning film Iris. An associate professor at the University of Texas, she is the recipient of numerous awards, including a special award from the Women Together Foundation at the United Nations for her lifelong dedication and support of artisans around the world. In 2018, at the age of 96, she was the oldest person to be turned into a Barbie doll. In 2023, at the age of 102, Iris wrote her legacy book Colourful.