Fashion Icon Iris Apfel Coming to Newport on June 22

Fashion Icon Iris Apfel Coming to Newport on June 22

Fashion designer and icon Iris Apfel will visit Newport to preview her new jewelry collaboration with Atelier Swarovski during a cocktail party at RIB & RHEIN later this month. 

The cocktail party will take place on Thursday, June 22 and is invitation only. 

“We’re so thrilled to welcome Ms. Apfel to Newport and to our store. She epitomizes what we value in fashion today – a distinctive style born out of confidence and grace, with a strong emphasis on individuality.  She has been a trendsetter for some 70 years, constantly intrigued by fashion and always remaining at its cutting edge,” said RIB & Rhein owner Thomas Ribeiro. 

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Also on display at RIB & RHEIN will be the Atelier Swarovski by Lanvin collection.

Iris Apfel 

Born Iris Barrel in Astoria, Queens, New York, Apfel studied art history at New York University and attended art school at the University of Wisconsin. 

She started her career working for Women’s Wear Daily and for interior designer, Elinor Johnson.

In 1948, she married Carl Apfel. 

Two years later, they launched their textile firm, Old World Weavers and ran it until they retired in 1992. From 1950 to 1992, Iris Apfel took part in several design restoration projects, including work at the White House for nine presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton.

Apfel, age 95 and now a retired businesswoman, rose to fame in 2005 when the Metropolitan Museum of Art mounted an exhibition celebrating her ability to transform herself into an otherworldly creature through clothes and accessories.