Iris Apfel’s Home in New York City is a Fashionista's Dream
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.1/9Iris Barrel Apfel—fashion muse, decorator, and cofounder of Old World Weavers—wearing Chado Ralph Rucci and jewelry of her own design in her New York City home. The living room’s bleached-oak boiserie is 18th-century French, and the door hardware is by P. E. Guerin; the screen is also French, while the chair at left, covered in an Old World Weavers tapestry fabric, is 17th-century Sicilian.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.2/9A collection of singerie tops an 18th-century Venetian bombé chest in the living room; the back of the English chair at right is painted with chinoiserie designs.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.3/9In the entry, an 18th-century English gilt chinoiserie mirror and an Italian console.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.4/9An Italian tole chandelier above a Maison Jansen table draped in a woven paisley throw.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.5/9The first painting Apfel ever bought—a portrait of the Infanta Margarita she picked up 60 years ago at an antiques shop in Florence.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.6/9Bakelite jewelry in the paws of a hand-carved French mountain dog.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.7/9The entry contains an 18th-century French screen (left), an early-18th-century painted Genoese corner cabinet, and Louis XVI–style chairs upholstered in an Old World Weavers cut velvet. The needlepoint carpet is English.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.8/9“I was one of the first New York women to wear boots,” says Apfel, who designed the gilt-leather-and-fabric pair on the floor at right. Racks of her vintage pieces fill a spare room; she is especially fond of the metallic-check coat by Galanos.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.9/9A hallway is lined with dog paintings and 19th-century English bookcases brimming with volumes on fashion, decorative arts, and Chinese costumes and textiles.
