Wednesday, February 24, 2010

my beloved iris ...

This is the 'irreverent' Iris Apfel, and if you don't already know who she is, you should ...

(photo courtesy of PEM press release)

In short, she is a style doyenne. Not only that, she is as vivacious as anyone I know ... and she's 88 years old! I had the good fortune to attend a small format speaking engagement with she and her husband Carl (61 years of marriage, we should all be so lucky!) in my South Florida hometown about 2 years ago and let me tell you, she is incredible - so witty and engaging! I found myself hanging on her every word - a truly delightful woman, sharp as a tack, and what an amazing life and legacy ... she left quite an impression on me.

I live in a neighboring town to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA and you can only imagine my delight when last Fall I discovered that an entire Iris Apfel show was opening in the PEM's 3rd floor galleries ... over 80 ensembles were on display as of October 17. Needless to say, I was there in pretty short order and the exhibit did not disappoint! Had I been blogging then, that day would have translated into a post bursting with her wow factor. Sadly, the show recently ended (February 7 was the last day), but the Boston Globe wrote a wonderful story about it here - it's worth a read and includes a must-watch 4-minute video in which Iris herself talks about her life and the path that brought her to this point. The PEM also posted a transcript of a fun interview with her that can be found here. She's a true original ...

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