Iris Apfel famous quotes

More is more and less is a bore.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fashion #Bores

I don't have any rules, because I would only be breaking them, so it's a waste of time
-- Iris Apfel

#Waste #Wasting Time

You have to look in the mirror and see yourself. If it feels good, then I know it's for me. I don't dress to be stared at, I dress for myself.
-- Iris Apfel

#Mirrors #Feel Good #Looks

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 to style. It’s about self-expression and, above all, attitude.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fashion #Attitude #Self

I was never hurt by what anybody said about my clothes, because I dress to please myself. If somebody doesn’t like what I’m wearing, it’s their problem, not mine
-- Iris Apfel

#Hurt #Clothes #Dresses

When you don't dress like everybody else, you don't have to think like everybody else.
-- Iris Apfel

#Inspiring #Fashion #Thinking

I say, dress to please yourself. Listen to your inner muse and take a chance. Wear something that says 'Here I am!' today.
-- Iris Apfel

#Confidence #Today #Dresses

I’m a hopeless romantic. I buy things because I fall in love with them. I never buy anything just because it’s valuable. My husband used to say I look at a piece of fabric and listen to the threads. It tells me a story. It sings me a song. I have to get a physical reaction when I buy something. A coup de foudre – a bolt of lightning. It’s fun to get knocked out that way!
-- Iris Apfel

#Song #Falling In Love #Fun

I don’t care what people think…I learned a long time ago…I was 19 and had a very traumatic experience….and I learned that I have to go to bed with myself at night and that I have to please myself…and as long as I don’t go out of my way to offend anybody that I love, upset my mother or my husband…I’ll do my own thing. And if the public doesn’t like it, it’s their problem, not mine.
-- Iris Apfel

#Mother #Husband #Night

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.
-- Iris Apfel

#People #Challenges #Littles

If you can't be pretty, you have to learn to make yourself attractive. I found that all the pretty girls I went to high school with came to middle age as frumps, because they just got by with their pretty faces, so they never developed anything. They never learned how to be interesting. But if you are bereft of certain things, you have to make up for them in certain ways. Don't you think?
-- Iris Apfel

#Girl #School #Thinking

To lead the good life in New York, the two most important things for a woman are a chauffeur and a fur-lined raincoat. If you have those two things, you’re made.
-- Iris Apfel

#New York #Good Life #Two

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.
-- Iris Apfel

#Spring #Believe #Thinking

I think if women put some more of the time and money they put on their heads in their heads, they’d be better off.
-- Iris Apfel

#Thinking #Time And Money

I'm not a minimalist, as I'm sure you've noticed.
-- Iris Apfel

#Minimalist

You only have one trip. You might as well enjoy it.
-- Iris Apfel

#Might #Enjoy #Wells

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.
-- Iris Apfel

#Mother #Simple #Black

I always feel that if you're gonna be uncomfortable and unhappy in something, just because you think it's in or it's chic, I would advise you to be happy rather than well-dressed. It's better to be happy.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fashion #Thinking #Unhappy

The fun of getting dressed is it's a creative experience.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fun #Creative

I never just went to look for clothes and style; I always find that wherever I go.
-- Iris Apfel

#Clothes #Style #Looks

I was in art school since I was five years old. I've always been to art school.
-- Iris Apfel

#Art #School #Years

I can't tell people how to have style. No amount of money can buy you style. It's just instinctive.
-- Iris Apfel

#People #Style

My mother knew if you bought a couple of really good architectural outfits and put your money into accessories, you could create a million different looks. She taught that to me, which I think was invaluable.
-- Iris Apfel

#Mother #Couple #Thinking

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

#Morning #Talking #Years

It's better to be happy and comfortable than well dressed.
-- Iris Apfel

#Well Dressed #Wells

I don't count myself as a fashionista because I do a lot of other things. That's just a small part of my life.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fashionista

You have to be interested. If you're not interested, you can't be interesting.
-- Iris Apfel

#Interesting #Not Interested

My mother worshipped at the altar of the accessory.
-- Iris Apfel

#Mother #Accessories

Jewelry is the most transformative thing you can wear.
-- Iris Apfel

#Jewelry

If you're lucky enough to get old, I think you should celebrate it.
-- Iris Apfel

#Positive #Thinking #Lucky

I just never want to completely grow up.
-- Iris Apfel

#Growing Up #Want #Grows

Style is attitude, attitude, attitude!
-- Iris Apfel

#Attitude #Style

I'm a color person, I've never been known to play it safe. Plus I like big bags. My eyeglasses are so big; they don't fit into smaller bags.
-- Iris Apfel

#Color #Play #Eyeglasses

If you put something together and it doesn't look so good, the fashion police are not going to come and take you away. And if they do, you might have some fun in jail.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fashion #Fun #Jail

I think jewelry can change an outfit more than anything else. Transformation, punch, individuality: One or all of the above are why you should wear jewelry.
-- Iris Apfel

#Thinking #Individuality #Jewelry

I used to collect frames. I've been collecting accessories since I was 11-years-old, creeping around flea markets and sales and everything. Whenever I saw unusual eyeglass frames, I bought them.
-- Iris Apfel

#Years #Eyeglasses #Accessories

I see myself as the world's oldest living teenager... I try to get as much kick out of things as possible.
-- Iris Apfel

#Teenager #Trying #World

Being attractive lasts longer than being pretty.
-- Iris Apfel

#Lasts #Being Pretty #Attractive

You're not pretty, and you'll never be pretty. But, it doesn't matter. You have something much better. You have style.
-- Iris Apfel

#Style #Matter #Not Pretty

These are things I love, things I've worn. I get more compliments on accessories than anything else. I think they're kind of like herbs and spices. They give zest and zing to an outfit.
-- Iris Apfel

#Thinking #Zest #Giving

I don't dress to be stared at. I dress for myself.
-- Iris Apfel

#Dresses

I never felt pretty. I don't feel pretty now. I'm not a pretty person. I don't like pretty. So I don't feel badly. And I think it worked out well, because I found that all the girls I know who got by on their looks, as time went on and they faded, they were nothing. And they were very disappointed. When you're somebody like myself, in order to get around and be attractive, you have to develop something, you have to learn something, you have to do something. So you become a bit more interesting.
-- Iris Apfel

#Girl #Thinking #Order

I'll spend more time getting dressed than I spent at the actual event.
-- Iris Apfel

#Events #More Time

It's more important to be happy than well-dressed.
-- Iris Apfel

#Important #Well Dressed #Wells

Fashion you can BUY, but style you POSSESS.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fashion #Style

If you hair is done properly and you're wearing good shoes, you can get anyway with anything.
-- Iris Apfel

#Life #Beauty #Hair

Given the choice, I would spend my money on accessories.
-- Iris Apfel

#Choices #Accessories #Given

If your hair is done properly you can get away with anything
-- Iris Apfel

#Hair #Done #Get Away

If there was a choice on spending a lot of money on accessories or dress, I always chose accessories. I think jewelry can change an outfit more than anything else.
-- Iris Apfel

#Thinking #Choices #Accessories

When you go to a nice restaurant, you want to be relaxed and have a drink and everything, you want to look at people who look well. You don't want to look at some slob with an open shirt and a hairy chest. At least I don't.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fashion #Nice #People

I just mix and put things together the way the spirit moves me.
-- Iris Apfel

#Moving #Together #Way

You have to know yourself and know what you can carry. If you're not comfortable, no matter how well dressed you are, you're not going to look right. I'd rather be happy and feel comfy.
-- Iris Apfel

#Life Changing #Looks #Matter

Coco Chanel said take one thing off. I always said put another one on.
-- Iris Apfel

#Said

I do have a dominant shopping gene but, unlike a reasonable person, I never plan for what I need each season. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the discovery and the endless search. In another creation I was, perhaps, a hunter/gatherer. After all these years, I’ve learned that it’s not the end result or finished product but the process I most enjoy. If my experimenting, searching and juxtaposing turns into an exciting outfit well, it’s just a big fat bonus!
-- Iris Apfel

#Discovery #Years #Shopping

I don’t expect to find inspiration. It just sort of comes. Sometimes you step on a bug and you get inspired.
-- Iris Apfel

#Inspiration #Bugs #Steps

Never be afraid to stop traffic.
-- Iris Apfel

#Being Yourself #Traffic

I think dressing up or down should be a creative experience. Exciting. Fun. For me the key to personal style lies in accessories. I love objects from different worlds, different eras, combined my way. Never uptight, achieving - hopefully - a kind of throwaway chic
-- Iris Apfel

#Fun #Lying #Thinking

When the fun goes out of getting dressed, you might as well be dead.
-- Iris Apfel

#Fun #Might #Wells

I never had a fondness for gems or the extravagance of Harry Winston or Van Cleef & Arpels. I've always liked the more flamboyant, imaginative things. I lusted after costume jewelry. My husband was a very lucky man.
-- Iris Apfel

#Husband #Men #Lucky

My look is either very baroque or very Zen – everything in between makes me itch.
-- Iris Apfel

#Looks #Baroque

In my view you can't go to the future if you haven't come from the past.
-- Iris Apfel

#Past #Views

The world is always full of promise.
-- Iris Apfel

#Promise #World

I'm making a lot of noise as I walk.
-- Iris Apfel

#Noise #Walks

People would always say to me, "Why are you wearing such large frames?" And I would say, "The bigger to see you."
-- Iris Apfel

#People #Bigger

You can't just say, "I'm gonna have style." You have to work at it. It's intuitive; some people have it, and some people can work on it all day long, and it will never happen.
-- Iris Apfel

#Long #People #Style

Everything that's happened to me, nothing's been planned. I've never had a business plan. I just kind of fell into it, and I liked it, and I took a chance. I took a lot of chances in my life.
-- Iris Apfel

#Chance #Kind #Plans

I had a great example with my mother, who was extremely chic.
-- Iris Apfel

#Mother #Example #Chic

I think I still keep my sense of wonder, which I call childlike, not childish, childlike. I still have a vivid imagination, and I like to try a lot of new things.
-- Iris Apfel

#Thinking #Imagination #Trying