Review by David Anthony
Iris Apfel is a nonagenarian designer known for her singular style. She and Carl, her centenarian spouse, have collected, curated and shaped taste in iconoclastic ways. In his final film, Iris, celebrated cineaste Albert Maysles has prepared a fitting tribute to this extraordinarily fierce, fecund, furious fashionista. Maysles, himself a legend, whose chilling 1970 Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter chronicled a 1969 tour culminating in the fatal Altamont concert, died this March.
Iris Apfel grew up in Queens, New York, raised during the Depression era and gradually came to realize her visionary gifts in the world of fashion. In a narrow sense, Iris tells that story. But characteristically, Maysles is after and adept at giving the viewer far more. From the beginning he shows us an artist unique and bold enough to follow her creative muse wherever that may take her. Iris does not care whether or not you go with her; often her instincts turn out to be right. In this way she has made her inimitable mark in the world of style for decades.
Yet as much as this saga revolves around Iris, it is also a testament to the intimate relationship she has shared with Carl, her partner, since their marriage in 1948. Their interior design enterprise, Old World Weavers, was very much a collective endeavor. It would, therefore, be difficult to tell her story without acknowledging their union as the driving force for her exceptional effectiveness in the realm of design.
The people who pass through this lens are personalities readily recognizable in fashion and design. Of course, there is a clip from an appearance on Martha Stewart’s show, but more importantly Maysles accompanies Iris on jaunts and haunts of street vendors in Harlem, dress racks in all kinds of shops and watching her process as she constructs her blend of haute and kitschy couture. We see interiors and exteriors, her home filled with all sorts of tchotchkes (Yiddish for baubles, trinkets or little things) to the outside world where she displays her acumen, including herself, the most authentic and consistently intriguing model of her often over the top sensibility.
Iris, however, is not just eccentric, she has something to say. She knows what she wants and is willing to take risks to make it happen. That fearlessness is inspiring.
This is David H. Anthony