Ageless Style Iris Apfel

The 96-year-old style maven muses on her new book and the state of fashion with her old friend, Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo

While working on my new book, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, I learned that I have more than 750,000 Instagram followers, which is quite amazing, as I’ve never even gotten an email address. “My” account is run by a woman named Paris who lives in Vienna, and I’m not quite sure where she gets the photos she posts of me. But I’m very happy if I can be of some help, because I think young people today need direction. They have to learn to be themselves, to develop a sense of curiosity, and not to live vicariously through these characters with no personality who they follow on social media.

You have a good pair of eyes; I’m sure you see the same things I do, Linda. Do you like it? Most people today don’t look very put-together or very pretty. They look like they fell out of bed or jumped out of a rag pile. I think athleisure is just ridiculous. It has its place if you’re at leisure or at a gym, but I think you owe it to your fellow man to look as pleasant as possible. It’s nice to feast your eyes upon something beautiful, not something that’s a mess. Recently I was at Le Cirque, and in walked this beautiful young lady, obviously from out of town. It was a Saturday evening, and she was all gussied up in a long dress. Her escort was nicely dressed too. But they were seated just across from two slobs, which spoiled the whole effect. If you want to lounge around, then don’t go out.