Iris Apfel invited to exhibit at Le Bon Marché

By

Chenu Alexis

Published
Feb 12, 2016

On the occasion of the forthcoming Paris Fashion Week, the Bon Marché Rive Gauche department store will host Iris Apfel and the 'Iris in Paris' exhibition, from 27th February to 16th April.

Now 94, the New York designer and interior decorator, recognizable for her extra-large round eyeglasses, colourful oversize necklaces and extraordinary attire, is regarded as one of the USA's major fashion and interior design personalities.

Apfel, with her husband, was at the heart of the creation of a textile company called Old World Weavers in 1950, and notably a well-known interior decorator at the White House and a writer at the Women’s Wear Daily professional magazine. Apfel's renown already earned her an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2005, now on tour, as well as a documentary film by Albert Maysles entitled 'Iris'.

At the Bon Marché Rive Gauche's invitation, Iris Apfel decided for this Paris exhibition to conjure up an ideal day in the French capital, revealing items from her clothing and jewellery collection by staging, in ten trunks/display cabinets, ten typical situations (the museum, a cocktail, the river boats, etc.), accompanied by ten short films in which she illustrates the outfits she has created.

Pictured by Eric Giriat, whose sketches are on display on the first floor, the ten looks by Iris Apfel become three-dimensional outfits for the display cabinets.

Finally, together with the looks on show, the Bon Marché design team lead by Iris Apfel will showcase a capsule collection, 'Iris' collection', produced in collaboration with a series of brands or conceived through Le Bon Marché's own brand.

Among the items on display there are Iris' fetish handbag, red or black, in Mongolian wool; oversize sunglasses, black or red, by Selima Optique; a large, 120x120cm silk muslin headscarf printed with an Eric Giriat design; a bow tie by Cinabre Paris; oversize pearl necklaces by Marion Vidal; bracelets by Luc Kieffer, as well as a transparent umbrella, a tote bag and a mug.