Iris Apfel is an icon for all, but even more to me
It’s never too late to make your dreams come true.
Just ask Iris Apfel, the 97-year-old model who signed with the renowned IMG agency last week – the same agency representing Bella Hadid and Chrissy Teigen. With an eccentric and eclectic style, Apfel has become known for her round and oversized glasses, as well as her love of vibrant colors and statement jewelry.
Prior to her modeling debut, Apfel owned a design and textile company with her husband. Their business took them around the world and allowed the self-proclaimed “geriatric startlet” to add new pieces to her wardrobe – many of which were featured at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2005 and 2006. This led to a fashion line and a collaboration with MAC cosmetics. Apfel didn’t stop there, however. In spring 2015, she was the face of a Kate Spade campaign and subject of the documentary, “Iris.” In 2018, she published a book, “Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon.”
But Apfel’s fashion and modeling career, which began when she was 90 years old, isn’t just inspiring. It also highlights a slow cultural shift favoring inclusivity.
As someone with a facial difference, my own sense of self-worth has suffered from the bias against people outside of conventional beauty standards. I was born with Crouzon syndrome, a condition where the bones in the head don’t grow – a condition that affected the shape of my eyes and skull, altering the appearance of my face. Even as a child, I knew I was different. I knew I didn’t resemble the women on television or in magazines. But like Iris Apfel, I learned to embrace what made me, me.
The summer before I entered kindergarten, my mother put me in a local, unofficial fashion show for Gymboree, and later, an official show for Nordstrom. At five, I was shy but already used to being stared at. My mother says this is partially why she signed me up to participate – because if the world was going to point out my differences, she wanted me to celebrate my beauty independently, to not need external validation. Despite my mother’s best efforts, the belief that I would never be beautiful had already been ingrained. Though I’ve moved on from my childhood riddled with insecurity, I’ve never seen a model with a face like mine. And while Iris Apfel’s career indicates a cultural shift toward self-acceptance, authenticity, and body positivity, her success story also highlights the ageism, ableism, sexism, and racism that has been prevalent in the industry for so long.
In the United States, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 16% of the population is over the age of 65. Roughly 56.7 million people – nearly 1 in 5 – have a disability, according to census data. And as of 2016, according to one study, 1.4 million adults identified as transgender. Yet, the fashion industry is not representative of this diversity.
Models are typically young, thin, white, and able-bodied. Though some argue that models are supposed to be what consumers consider ideal, not showcasing varying ages, races, genders, sizes, sexualities, and abilities perpetuates the idea that physical appearance is indicative of one’s overall worth – that there is only one definition of beauty and one version of an ideal. As such, the appearance of models deemed worthy of inclusion in fashion shows, media, and advertisements sends messages about who deserves to feel beautiful and be included.
This message impacts not only consumers of the goods models wear but also the perceptions and biases against older or disabled Americans that contribute to overall inequality.
In November 2018, Victoria Secret’s chief marketing officer Ed Razek told Vogue that the company’s lack of diversity among its models stemmed from the fact that they weren’t trying to appeal to the whole world, but were instead selling a fantasy. “Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should,” Razec told the magazine. He even mentioned the company’s attempt at a plus-size show in 2000. “No one had any interest in it, still don’t,” he said. But in today’s society, this narrow-minded view of beauty is unacceptable.
Luckily, this attitude is becoming less prevalent. According to an industry report, in fall 2015, 85% of models were white. In Spring 2016, this number fell to 78%. And after models spoke out, every runway at last year’s New York Fashion Week had at least two models of color. According to The Fashion Spot, a website dedicated to the latest news and trends in fashion, other identities have also seen increased representation. Between fall 2017 and spring 2018, the number of transgender and non-binary models increased from 12-31 out of 2,289. There’s even been a slight increase in the number of models with disabilities.
Apfel’s success builds upon this momentum and expands the conversation by highlighting another underrepresented group: models over 50. Because in spring 2018, there were only nine models in this age bracket. Apfel is inspiring people whose identities fall outside of the mainstream – people like me.
Apfel’s ability to defy societal norms by embracing both her beauty and her age makes me excited for a future with even more diverse representation of beauty. And seeing diverse models who are unafraid of being themselves – models like Iris Apfel – gives me hope that I will one day see someone like me featured in ads or modeling clothes on a runway.
Until then, I’ll channel my inner Iris Apfel and remind myself of the beauty in simply being who you are. Because perhaps the most refreshing thing about Iris Apfel is her understanding of the fact that there’s more to life and more to people than our perceived beauty, or lack thereof. “I’m not pretty, and I’ll never be pretty, but it doesn’t matter. I have something much better. I have style,” she said during the 2015 documentary that bears her name.
Growing up, I too learned to define my worth outside of my physical appearance. With a face that didn’t meet stereotypical beauty standards, my identity was rooted in who I was, not what I looked like. This allowed me to celebrate all of my unique attributes – something everyone should be encouraged to do, something that would be a lot easier if everyone could see their identity reflected in the mainstream.