When you’re a true-blue fashion icon, you’ve got to mark milestones with literal style. Iris Apfel—interior decorator, designer, Instagram star, and newly minted centenarian—is doing just that with an H&M collaboration, with the debut of which coincides with her 100th birthday and a star-studded celebration at Central Park Tower.
Apfel has done collaborations in the past, yet there’s good reason to argue this is the most Iris Apfel’y of them all. There’s the unabashedness of the print and color mixing, the volume (like an organza jacket—a personal Iris favorite—that will surely make it impossible to walk through your average doorway without twisting just a bit to accommodate the explosive silhouette), and the jewelry. As Apfel says,“The more colorful and the bigger, the better.”
And oh, the jewelry. Anyone who’s familiar with Apfel’s look knows there’s always a lot of it, all layered with a definite embrace of the more-is-more attitude. The collection does an incredible job of capturing the infectious energy and exuberance of this accessory approach, offering up delightfully flashy and chunky necklaces, earrings, and a charm bracelet that’s a particular standout.
Iris Apfel x H&M might not be for the fashion faint-of-heart, yet the beauty of a bright and bold range like this is that you can wear it all together (à la Iris) or play it a bit more low-key. Each piece would look good mixed in with the most basic building blocks (like jeans and a white tee). The universal, something-for-everyone appeal is key to the bigger message of Iris’s style: that people should celebrate their individuality and not be afraid to experiment so they can figure out exactly how they want to dress. Wear a bunch of pieces together or tuck a standalone item into your otherwise monochromatic closet—either works.
Whichever route feels more like you, there’s much to play with. Nearly every category is represented in the collection, with suiting, coats, ruffled dresses, and silk pajama-style sets meant to be paired or mixed and matched. And the aforementioned jewelry is joined by accessories like shoes, belts, and patterned tights.
Vital to point out: The collaboration is sensitive to the fact that excess is not always the answer. The majority of the materials used throughout the collection are either recycled or sustainably sourced and each piece has been designed with circularity in mind.
While the collaboration will be formally feted at an H&M and Harper’s BAZAAR-hosted party to mark Iris’s 100th at New York Fashion Week, we won’t be able to get our hands on it until early next year.
Discover the H&M Iris Apfel Collaboration
All Clothing and Accessories by H&M x Iris Apfel. Art Direction by Sonja Georgevich; Styling Assistance by Laura Spriet; Makeup by Sage; Hair by Herve Merlino; Production by Cynthia Cohen and HG Producers; Location provided by Central Park Tower.
