American businesswoman, interior designer, and fashion icon Iris Apfel has accumulated a sizeable net worth throughout her career. Apfel, who was well-known for her personal style and audacious wardrobe selections, became famous for her distinct look and extravagant persona.
As a prosperous businesswoman, she has worked with many brands and organizations by utilizing her strong sense of design, further consolidating her position in the fashion sector.
Iris Apfel’s net worth is a testament to her influence and impact on the design and style world, as evidenced by her renowned eyeglasses and predilection for fusing high and low fashion.
Iris Apfel Net Worth
With a net worth of $25 million, Iris Apfel is an American businesswoman, fashion icon, and interior designer. August 1921 saw the birth of Iris Apfel in Astoria, Queens, New York. At her Palm Beach, Florida, home, Apfel passed away on March 1, 2024. It was her 102nd birthday.
She attended the University of Wisconsin as well as New York University. In 1948, Apfel—who worked for Women’s Wear Daily—married Carl Apfel. Old World Weavers is a textile company founded by the couple.
From 1950 until 1992, Iris Apfel worked on numerous restoration projects and was employed by Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Nixon, Johnson, Carter, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton at the White House.
Apfel was the subject of an exhibition at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2005, and since then, other museums have done the same.
In 2012, Apfel, who was 90 years old, was a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The Guardian listed her as one of the fifty Best-Dressed Over-50s in 2013. Apfel was highlighted in the Iris documentary from 2015.
Iris Apfel’s Bioraphy
Iris Barrel, born August 29, 1921, in Astoria, Queens, New York City, was the only child of Russian-born Samuel Barrel (1897-1967), whose family had a glass and mirror company, and his wife Sadye “Syd” Barrel (née Asofsky, 1898-1998), who ran a fashion boutique.
They were both of Jewish descent. Her parents and grandparents reared her on a farm, but she frequently took the subway into Manhattan to explore, and that’s where she fell in love with Greenwich Village.
She began her remarkable collection of jewelry from all around the world when she was still a little girl and used to frequent its antique stores. She attended art school at the University of Wisconsin and studied art history at New York University.
Iris Apfel’s Personal Life
Due in part to the extensive amount of travel that was required for their profession, the Apfels did not have any children. She did not want her children to be raised by a nanny. Thus, she did not have any children.
Yatagan by Caron was Apfel and her husband Carl’s favorite scent, and they both tried it together. Carl, his wife of 67 years, passed away on August 1, 2015, at the age of 100. On August 29, 2021, Apfel celebrated her 100th birthday with those she loved.
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Iris Apfel’s Career
When Apfel was younger, she made $15 a week as a copywriter for Women’s Wear Daily. She worked as an interior designer for Elinor Johnson, where she dressed apartments for resale and developed her knack for finding unique objects. She also worked as Robert Goodman’s assistant, an illustrator.
She and Carl Apfel were married on February 22, 1948. They established Old World Weavers, a textile company, two years later in 1950 and managed it until their retirement in 1992. The Apfels were experts at replicating fabrics from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
They visited Europe twice a year to find textiles that were unavailable in the US. The company’s Manhattan showroom was situated at 115 East 57th Street.
Iris Apfel worked on a range of design restoration projects over her career, including assignments in the White House for nine presidents: Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Harry S. Truman.
She discovered that the White House was one of Old World Weavers’ easier contracts because most of their clients only wanted to duplicate what had already been established. Apfel stated that Jacqueline Kennedy was the lone exception.
Recalling the incident, Apfel said, “The design community went crazy when she hired a well-known Parisian designer to glam up the house and make it a real Frenchie.” We had to start over and throw everything out after that.
However, I enjoyed Mrs. Nixon. She was so beautiful.” The pair started exploring the world through their business, where Apfel also purchased handcrafted, non-Western clothing. She donned these outfits to high-society parties hosted by clients.
Iris Apfel joined the University of Texas at Austin’s Division of Textiles and Apparel as a visiting professor in 2011. She was the face of the Australian company Blue Illusion and appeared in a TV ad for the French automobile DS 3 in 2016.
Apfel and tech firm WiseWear announced their partnership in March 2016 to work on a forthcoming collection of innovative jewelry. 2018 saw the release of her biography, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, by HarperCollins.
She signed a modeling contract with international agency IMG in 2019 at the age of 97. Tommy Hilfiger pushed her to sign with professional representation after noticing that she was regularly approached for appearances.
