A couple of weeks ago, whilst I was in New York, I was luck enough to go to a talk with the amazing
Iris Apfel and Tavi Gevinison called Impossible conversations: Ugly Chic”. Here
are some of the incredibly interesting thoughts on style and how these two
women young and old dress.
(Terribly blurry pic from the talk, apologies)
Iris: “ I am organised only in my own way. I
don’t intellectualise about clothes, I can’t give any can’t give any rules.
I think they’ll go together and I
throw them on”
Iris” I am the worlds
oldest living teenager’
Tavi: “ A lot of my clothes
have some kind of motif or print. Getting dresses is a form of play- it should
be great fun.”
Iris: ‘When the fun
goes out of it you might as well be dead. You shouldn’t work with rules and
regulations. Persue your own style”
Tavi: " Taste and
style are like a sense of humour.
What you find funny is what you find funny. I wish people had more of a sense
of humour about style. There is now a more acceptable kind of weird- the
vintage, cutsey look”.
Iris: “ Much more
freedom today. I remember when I was wearing old clothes not vintage. Terrible
time with my husband when he stated I can afford to buy new clothes, why do you
want old things."
Iris: “Personal style
evolves for yourself, and personal style is all about curiosity of oneself. Not
give a damn about what anyone else thinks.
Tavi: "Fashion is
about fantasy, You have to have self confidence or you can’t pull it off.
Fantasy is powerful”
Iris: ‘ In the 40s I
was one of the first women to wear jeans. My outfit was a gingham turban, crisp
shirt and blue jeans. I had this idea in my head and I HAD to get a pair of
jeans. I tried the Army and Navy store and they stated, “ don’t you know that
young ladies don’t wear jeans”. Eventually after persistence I managed to get a
pair of boys jeans to wear.
Iris : “I’m not a
rebel. The New look was smashing. I don’t live to be trendy. You can’t be
trendy and have personal style. Nobody can wear everything, and every designer
has a particular person in mind”
Iris: My favourite
designers at the moment are Ralph Rucci and Dries Van Noten. I like
architectural clothing that can be embellished with jewellery”.
Tavi: My favourite
designers are Medham Kirchoff, Rodarte and Prada. Their clothes exist in a vacuum.
I like that for Medham Kirchoff music is so important`. I also think Alexander
McQueen is important. His was mutant fashion. He was a mad scientist of
fashion, but Schiaparelli was the mother of all of this.
Iris: “Schiaparelli
worked on a womans body. Hers was intellectual rather than just fashion. Her
designs were practical and could be worn. Why pay a fortune and look like a
freak? Having bumps all over is
not the most attractive thought (referencing Comme de Garcons). I can look ugly
on my own and it won’t cost me a penny.
Iris Apfel “ There is
nothing like a good old bathrobe” (ahem, my former housemates, if Iris Apfel
says this I MUST be cool).
Tavi “Getting dressed
is a form of performance art. You assume a persona when you get dressed”
Iris “Clothes should
not be the primary thing you do. There is more than clothing to life. You
should have curiosity about yourself”.
Iris “ There is an
undercover revolution of the old. Age does not make you invisible. Just because
you are a certain age does not mean you have to walk around in widows weaves.
Why should you be stopped because of a number”
Iris “ I never felt
constricted because I dressed a certain way. Right now there is no counterculture.
The way to be rebellious is to get old”
What I think came from
this is that there is a hell of a lot of great and creative fashion going on
with older ladies at the moment. You just have to look at advanced style to see
this (there were a lot of ladies in the audience who have been featured on this
website). There was discussion at the end of the talk that there might well be
an exhibition upcoming for advanced style featuring outfits worn by some of
these fabulously stylish older ladies.
I think both Iris and
Tavi made some great points about style and the way we dress. Most importantly
dressing should be about self expression and enjoying what you wear. Don’t get
driven by trends, and just dress in a way that makes you happy.
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