The word eclectic is defined as: “Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles”.  To define the word “eclectic fashion” one has to go no further than Iris of this style and the master of the genre. The proof of her perfection resides in the well deserved and on-going attention that the contents of her closet demand. 

If you missed the MET’s exhibit of her collection in 2005, then you definitely want to add Nassau County  Museum of Art to this summer must see and do list. Beginning next week, May20th, the museum will be exhibiting the amazing collection of her wardrobe and even more amazing finds have been pried from Iris Apfel’s closet. Iris Apfel:  Rare Bird of Fashion is not to be missed. 

Now in her 80’s, Iris continues to be a role model and inspiration to legions of women both past and present. She doesn’t really follow fashion despite being an intimate of many designers, nor did she really go forth into fashion design despite a “fling with dressmakers, bag makers and shoemakers”. She admits to being “a closet designer who could never sew or cut”. She even claims that she didn’t collect for the ideal of having a collection, what amazes and inspires us is simply her wardrobe. 

Born an only child in Astoria, Queens in 1922, the appreciation for beautiful things and art began when she read art history at NYU and attended the University of Wisconsin art school. By 1950, with husband, Carl, she began Old World Weavers, a textile and design company, which specialized in ancient techniques and exact reproductions of antique fabrics.  She was a famous interior designer, with clients such as Greta Garbo, Estee Lauder and White House, and hob knobbed with high society of the time, but it is not her fame or notoriety that makes her worthy of her legendary status.  It’s simply the contents of her closet, collected over a range of 60 years from around the world, and then, her art of combining those items with their polar opposites  that begets her reign as a true original. For Iris Apfel, true style was not dictated to her or even by her, but was fun and serious and whimsical and amusing, all at once.

It is beyond fitting that Loehmann’s is sponsoring the exhibit as for Iris, like a Loehmann’s shopper, the “thrill was in the hunt”.  And hunt she did just like the rest of us. In an interview with Marilyn Kirschner, Iris speaks of her finding a “true gem”:

“Oh there’s something I just found in Loehmann’s….. For my birthday I go to Loehmann’s because I get a 15% discount, it’s very exciting…and I found this wonderful, wonderful completely beaded coat from Ralph Lauren and it is so gorgeous …all the way down to the floor and I won’t tell you its price because it’s ridiculous…it’s divine and very Marlene Dietrich with crystalline beads on white chiffon…and it was way too long although I am fairly tall…and I went to three dressmakers and they all said they were afraid to tackle it and I didn’t know what to do…Ralph Rucci said he’d fix it but I didn’t want to trouble him…then I met Mr. Ralph Lauren and when I told him he said “Oh we’ll fix it”. So it’s now being fixed.’”

The pieces in the exhibit are from flea markets, houses of haute couture, East Indian Bazaars, thrift stores, discount department stores, Old European artifacts, and handmade boutiques from all over the globe. With over 60 years worth of collecting, Iris was able to pair brand new finds and old:  “mix something I bought last week with something I’ve hoarded for 30 years.” 

From a fashion stand point alone, the exhibit is worth seeing as it features exciting couture clothing from every major European and American designer including Chanel, Dior, Armani, Galanos, Ungaro, Ralph Rucci, Geoffrey Beene, Lanvin, Norell, and Bill Blass among others. Separately, the results of her collection bespeak of a journey though time and fashion that could set the pace for a who’s who in the history of couture. In addition, her accessories and jewelry collections are incredible and also historic. What makes this all so much more is that her outfits are displayed “exactly’ as she put them together herself including her signature oversized black glasses on the mannequins. It’s not so much as the “what” she wore, but the “how” she wore it. 

The originality of her style is revealed in her mixing of Dior haute couture with flea-market finds, Dolce & Gabbana lizard trousers with nineteenth-century ecclesiastical vestments, pink Lanvin worn with ropes of Navajo turquoise. A selection of audacious accessories also comes under the spotlight: a giant necklace made of bear claws, a turn-of-the-century Indian horse ornament worn as a necklace, a parrot’s-head brooch in colored glass and rhinestones.

The final results are unforgettable. When fashion defies limits, creativity soars and taste is redefined.  What Iris Apfel does is remind us that we must be true to ourselves and what we love. Our “look” is then defined by ourselves and what we adore, what we resonate with, what is the outside epitomey of our own souls. It is an opportunity for our self defined inner beauty to be seen on the outside and therefore is nothing that can be prescribed by the trends of the seasons or other outside influences. 

When we view the now “art” that is Iris’ closet and see that this non-conformity is beyond our wildest dreams, it can indeed re-inspire us to find our own inner Iris.

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This exhibition was first seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute as Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Barrel Apfel Collection. It has been adapted for its showing at NCMA and now includes even more stunning items of clothing, accessories and jewelry from Apfel’s collection. Later shown at the Norton Museum in Palm Beach as “Iris Apfel: a Rare Bird of Fashion”, the exhibit at the NCMA is sponsored by Loehmann’s with support from Astoria Federal Savings. 

“Iris Apfel: a Rare Bird of Fashion” opens to the public on May 20^th at Nassau County Museum of Art and runs through September 7^th. Located off Northern Boulevard in Roselyn Harbor, admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $4 for children with an additional $2 parking charge on weekends. Museum members are free. For more information go to the museum website at: www.nassaumuseum.com or call (516) 484-9338. 

In addition, cultural historian Dr. Charles A. Riley II presents “Extreme Iris” a multimedia presentation and “interdisciplinary exploration of genius at work” on Sunday June 22 at 4pm. 

For a rare treat, the museum also offers a Private Tea & Tour of the Exhibition on June 11^th at 2:30 pm. This behind-the-scenes glimpse at the museum’s current exhibition is introduced by the museum’s director, Constance Schwartz, and features a private guided tour followed by a menu of tea, sandwiches, scones and sweets in the beautifully refurbished Café Musée. Space is limited so reserve early.

Admission for Dr. Riley’s lecture is $10 for museum members and $20 for guests.Admission for each Tea & Tour is $35 (museum members, $25) and includes admission to the museum. To reserve, call (516) 484-9338, ext. 12 or write to reginaforlenza@nassaumuseum.com. 

 If you just can’t make it there at all, then check out the book from the original collection shown in 2005 at the Met show in NY: “Rare Bird of Fashion; the Irreverent Iris Apfel” is available at Amazon. With an essay by the fashion maven herself, an introduction by Harold Koda, director of the Costume Institute, and  169 photos by fashion photographer, Eric Bowman, it’s the next best thing to being there.

For many of the 100,000 plus fans attending this now four day musical festival in California’s Coachella Valley, it was all the  over 100 musical acts that graced the stages this past weekend.  Music, though, never lives in a vacuum, so the major fashion magazines took their cameras into the crowds to check out the street style. 

Keeping in mind those temperatures can reach over 100 degrees, and many were attending and camping out for the four days, there still seemed to be some various fashion trends coming out of the masses.

Legs were bare with seas of shorts shorts.  While denim seemed to be favored by celebrities, shorts all around held their own.  Stripped shorts, brightly colored shorts, and shorts with big boots all caught the camera eyes of the magazines.   It seemed the very fashionable went one step father and rebelled against the low-waisted denim on seasons past, as special mentions were made of those sporting  high wasted coverage.

Along with the short shorts, were many short little dresses.  Sleeveless tanks, t-shirt dresses, floral numbers and vintage inspired chic all made the camera smile. Often a loose dress was paired with a belt and, due to the music festival aspect, many a fanny-pack as well. Baby doll  were given special mention as the majority of legs did remain bare, but long dresses also go some attention as well.

Hats were all around. Again, probably having to do more with the endless beating sun, though this pair in Cowboy straw covers had to know they were saying something.  Still, many hats of many different styles made it to the publish pictures.  Along with hats, various headbands were seen. Thick ones, thin ones, head bands covered with flowers.

The undergarment of choice, again, think heat, was the bathing suit. If the bathing suit was only partially covered up, then that was Ok as well,  For some it was just an oversized t-shirt, some had cut up their t-shirts into huge sleeveless tops,  And for many others, the bikini top was the shirt.

Barefoot, flip flopped and sandaled all stood in line, but the season hot gladiator trend held court and also seem to garnish a fine percentage of pictures as well.  The low cut “bootlette” of this spring was seen as was almost any manner of boot baring lots of leg. Boots  were paired with just about anything.

As this was a music festival, and all music festivals have the roots in the Woodstock of the 60’s, the classic hippie wear could not be forgotten. Therefore, from the simple Indian influenced hippie type dress to a classic all over Woodstock acceptable assembly, one might think that they travelled back in time

Maybe it’s because diversity is a trend or perhaps it is one of 7^th Avenues’ answers to ‘going green”, but earthy tribal prints are making waves for this spring and summer and the hottest of all are Ikats.

Tribal patterns are often all over prints that take their influence from various forms of nature. A form of a leaf, flowers, bone, or the pattern of an animal skin is often standard patterns.  More African patterns feature primitive art motifs that would have previously found their way onto cultural art or primitive masks and now are making their way down the runway and into stores.

The color pallets for these fabrics are based on natural printmaking and traditional dying techniques, so greens from plants, bark, husks, lichen, and berries bring a natural feel all over. For instance, the dyes from onion skins create a wonderfully warm golden mustard color which can then paired with a black for a dramatic positive verses negative effect.  Fashionable tribal fabrics often pin a strong bright color against the neutral tones with dark browns and blacks.  Even if the fabric is obviously not hand dyed from nature, the full tribal patterns can bring out the animal in us all.

Ikat Prints are everywhere! 

The hottest of all prints this year are Ikat prints. Ikat, or Ikkat, is a style of weaving that uses a resist dyeing process similar to tie-dye.  While almost all of the tribal prints have  their roots in  an original people and their culture, Ikat is credited to Malay- Indonesia.  In the Malay language, Ikat translates to means “to tie” or “to bind” or “to knot”, which is the technique used.  In principle, Ikat or resist dyeing involves the sequence of tying and dyeing sections of bundled yarns to a predetermined color scheme prior to weaving. Technologically, this weaving refers to thread-resist textile. The threads, which are colored, are then woven into the fabric.

The traditional Ikats from Malaysia are actually much more complicated than the fashionable textiles baring their name this year. While in fashion terms  “Ikat prints” tends to hand a zig zaggy tribal look to it with only one or two colors.  The look is more akin to a simpler weave of the dyed threads, or taking a piece of fabric, tying it off to resist the dyes, and that produces the effect like this scarf.

Clothing made from Ikat inspired fabrics are literally everywhere this year.  From the top designer’s runway collections to the local stores, Ikat is making huge ways. Airy summer dresses, cute tops, long skirts, short skirts, bathing suits, scarves, and even underwear are screaming Ikat all over.

All in a days work… all for a good cause!
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3294894n

Mark your calendar…
starting next Tuesday, October 2nd Loehmann’s and Dress for Success®
invite you to make a difference in a woman’s life… donate a nearly new suit
at any Loehmann’s store and take 10% off a suit purchase.*
(Coordinating two piece ladies suits only please)

*Some restrictions apply. See our “this week” online calendar next Monday, 10/1/07 for complete details or ask any Sales Associate in store.