IRIS
(12A, 80mins) Documentary
Iris Apfel, Carl Apfel
Director: Albert Maysles
RATING: FOUR STARS
IRIS Apfel may not be a household name outside of New York but the 93-year-old is a fashion icon with a difference and a fascinating documentary subject.
Iris is an excellent film by Albert Maysles (who died earlier this year), following a lady obsessed with collecting clothes and accessories since she was 12. There is footage from a civic reception at which Iris is lauded as "a taste maker, fashion icon, businesswoman, interior designer and style maverick", a fitting description of this remarkable woman.
Both she and her husband Carl are full of life; the ever-colourful Iris explains to director Maysles why she dresses with such particular flair: “Life is grey and dull, so you might as well have a little fun when you dress and amuse people.”
We get to see endless outfits, accessories, odds and ends and many pairs of her trademark round glasses. While her headquarters is her Park Avenue apartment, Iris has so much stuff that she rents a huge storage unit on Long Island. And her house in Florida is a treasure trove of art, furniture, train sets, ornaments and teddy bears that is a winning mix of class and kitsch.
Iris is such a warm, witty and entertaining person that you could watch hours more of this footage, following her around as she helps do the window-dressing in Bergdorf Goodman, haggles at a market, advises a group of Texas fashion students and appears on a home shopping channel to sell her big bold bracelets.
More than a film about fashion, this is a fascinating documentary about an effortlessly engaging character and it’s also a love story. First we see Iris celebrating her 90th birthday and then we see Carl marking his 100th.
Maysles films Iris looking back over her wedding photographs; Carl says later that “It’s been a beautiful trip” with Iris. “You never know what’s going to happen. It’s not a dull marriage, I can tell you,” he laughs.
Just like his wife, Carl is game for a laugh and we see him sporting a loud red baseball cap finished with chunky gold studs.
The film takes in Iris’s years as an in-demand interior designer (with the White House just one of the residences she spruces up), her refreshing thoughts on plastic surgery (Why? For a few wrinkles? I see no reason for it...) and the hugely successful 2005 exhibition of Iris’s fashion at The Met in New York.
She also expresses her love for the fashions of Harlem as opposed to the 'uniform’ style on display in downtown Manhattan. “I like individuality,” she says. “Everything is homogenised now; I hate it.”
Iris is a perfect companion film for the 2010 Richard Press documentary Bill Cunningham New York (and Cunningham actually pops up in Iris). The last scene, poignantly, is Maysles sitting down with Iris for a cup of tea.
:: At QFT Belfast from today until August 6 (QueensFilmTheatre.com).
