Top 10 Best Iris Apfel Quotes

99-year-old fashion icon Iris Apfel is one of the most famous and vibrant women in the world. She is called “Rara Avis”, which means “rare bird” in Latin. You will recognize her by her large glasses, smiling face, colorful style and appearance. Iris knows many secrets of life. What we can learn from her is a lot.

Here are some interesting quotes from Iris about fashion and philosophy:

• You don’t find out who you are unless you work at it.
• In my view you can’t go to the future if you haven’t come from the past.
• I am inspired by everything around me. It’s not like I stand out on the moors or any of that romantic crap they throw around. I’m just inspired by being alive and breathing and meeting people and talking to people and doing things and absorbing what’s happening. I think if more people did that, there would be better fashion.
• I never expect anything. I just feel things in my gut and I do them. If something sounds exciting and interesting, I do it–and then I worry about it later. Doing new things takes a lot of energy and strength. It’s very tiring to make things happen, to learn how to master a skill, to push fears aside. Most people would rather just go with the flow; it’s much easier. But it’s not very interesting.
• If you don’t learn constantly, you don’t grow, and you will wither. Too many people wither on the vine. Sure, it gets a little harder as you get older, but new experiences and new challenges keep it fresh.
• There is really no substitute for experience. You must have experience and be open to experience — that helps. That helps a lot. Most importantly, you have to be yourself, be who you are and take time to be open and honest with yourself. That is what it’s all about. If you don’t know yourself, you’ll never have great style. You’ll never really live. To me, the worst fashion faux pas is to look in the mirror, and not see yourself.
• Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There’s no how-to road map style. It’s about self expression and, above all, attitude.
• You don’t have to look like an old fuddy-duddy, but I believe it was Chanel who said, ‘Nothing makes a woman look so old as trying desperately hard to look young’. I think you can be attractive at any age. I think trying to look like a spring chicken when you’re not makes you look ridiculous.
• My mother worshipped at the alter of accessories and I got the bug. She always said, if you have a good, little, simple black dress and you have different accessories, you can have 27 different outfits.
• You don’t have to be an artist to be a creator, because creativity comes in a lot of forms, like cooking or keeping a house or dressing well. What you need is imagination, to make things up for yourself.