Inspiring Woman: Iris Apfel

“To find out who you are is like putting yourself on a psychiatric couch, but you have nobody to help you. Really it isn’t easy. I was talking with my nephew this morning and he gave me one of the best quotes I’ve heard in years… ‘Personal style is curiosity about oneself.’” - Iris Apfel

Today is the day I start my monthly series on inspiring women. Mostly I'll be writing about women of all ages, shapes, colors, and whatever else, in the fashion and beauty industry, but also other women that I see fitting. The woman that I'm starting with, who I'm guessing that probably just about all of you know of, is Iris Apfel. She's pretty much the coolest woman in her 90s ever. For real. She has killer style that is totally unique to her and she's accomplished so much. After launching a successful interior design career she was brought to true fame, other than the following she gained for her style, from launching a jewelry line with HSN. Needless to say she's not only a style icon, but a role model to many including myself. Not to mention she's over 90 and still going at it! I hope I can do that. I hope I can make it past 60 without falling apart. And I hope I can make it to 60 with that style, too. Look at those signature glasses of her's! I would totally wear those if I could pull them off.

Iris believes that with age you should wear less and less makeup, unless it's a true skill of yours to make your makeup artfully beautiful even with difficult wrinkles. Usually all you can see on Iris's face is a bold lip color and a bold eye shadow color. I'd love to do an Iris Apfel inspired makeup look if anyone would be interested in seeing that. It would be very simple mostly, but with pops of color. As far as her fashion goes it's so eclectic and different, we can all gain inspiration from bits and pieces of it. Just head down to a vintage shop and you'll find tons of Apfel-esque pieces.

Interested in checking out some of Iris Apfel's jewelry? You can check some out at HSN, because there is a lot of cool stuff. There's a lot of cool bangles, like the beetle one that I picked out up there, and there are a lot of interesting statement necklaces, like that beautiful gold one. If I were to get anything from there, I would definitely get the gold statement necklace. Imagine what you could do with that in the summer. I think I would probably wear it every single day.

The photos of Apfel are from Zimbio. Who are you inspired by? Did you know who Iris Apfel was before? On the off chance that you didn't are you interested in here now? Who would you like to see me write about next month? What are some of your favorite pieces by Iris Apfel? What are some of your favorite looks by Iris Apfel? Would you totally rock her huge, round frames?