Designer and fashion icon Iris Apfel dies at 102

Interior and textile designer Iris Apfel has died at the age of 102. The tragic news was reported on her Instagram page*. She has three million followers on the social network and more than 215,000 fans who follow her on TikTok. Apfel's representative told the New York Times that she died at her home in Palm Beach. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

Iris Apfel was born in New York in 1921 to Samuel and Sadie Burrell. Her mother owned a fashion boutique. Iris attended New York University, where she studied art history, and the University of Wisconsin, where she studied art.

Iris owes her reputation as a fashion icon to a happy coincidence. When an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York was canceled in 2005, the curator called her and invited her to present her jewelry collection (Apfel was known for her unusual bracelets and necklaces). Iris agreed, and the show at MOMA became a sensation.

In 1948, she married Karl Apfel, an advertising executive. They lived together for 67 years and had no children. Carl Apfel died in 2015 at the age of 100. They owned a textile company, Old World Weavers, and specialized in restoration work. Among other things, they worked on projects in the White House under six different presidents. The designer's clients included founder Estée Lauder and actress Greta Garbo.