IRIS
IRIS, a new documentary film, pairs legendary filmmaker Albert Maysles with beloved New York fashion icon, Iris Apfel.
From the time she was a child, Apfel had a strong passion for individual style in all of its forms. After studying fine arts at the New York University, she started a career within women’s wear that took her across numerous artistic venues including interior design.
In 1948 she married Carl Patel, an advertising executive, with whom she founded Old World Weavers manufacturing fabrics spun from her imagination. From 1948–1993 Apfel and Patel assisted in resorting fabrics of many major museum collections as well as the White House.
As the couple travelled the world, Apfel became a passionate collector of textiles, which she would transform into clothing and artefacts, which she would turn into jewellery. Over the years she became increasingly admired for her fearless and original style that took distance to the trendy of the times. While other women were dressing in designer wear from head to toe, Apfel combined hate couture tops with pants fashioned from church vestments and tribal jewellery transforming her dressing into improvised expressions of art.
IRIS portrays the quick-witted, flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old woman today. The film, which is Albert Maysles’ last before he passed away in March 2015, follows Apfel on her shopping expeditions and gives an insight into her life, home, cheerful spirit, and passionate endeavours. The film is more than a fashion film, it presents a story about a free spirit that continues to inspire with a boundless enthusiasm. Apfel’s boundless love for fashion, art and people continues to be nourishment for creativity and design and her entire being is a constant reminder that dressing, and life in general, is nothing but an adventurous experiment.
IRIS has seen its release by Magnolia Pictures in the US and Europe. Australian audiences will be able delve into Apfel’s world when it is released around the country on Thursday 13 August 2015 by Madman Entertainment.
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