Film ReviewsIris: big, bold, and with pizzazz!
June 12, 2015 Anchorage Press
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The iconic glasses become her-Iris Apfel, who at the age of 90-something and after a lifetime of searching and finding is everywhere and has somehow, in one way or another, influenced just about anyone who wears clothes. The documentary Iris by the late Albert Maysles is like a handwritten note on good paper that smells of Shalimar and is exchanged between very old friends.
Maysels' career consisted of documenting lives in a style that honored the subjects and created intimate celluloid connections between viewers and subjects, whether it's the Rolling Stones through Gimme Shelter in 1970, or Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' cousins, Edith Bouvier and her daughter, Edith Bouvier Beale, in Grey Gardens in 1975. Maysles made many of his works alongside his brother, David. Albert Maysles died at the age of 88 this past May, making Iris not only his last film, but a beautiful rendering of Iris' journey in which she individuated, self-actualized and in the process brought a whole industry, society and art along the same journey; fast-forward a century later and Iris has propelled fashion into a world and language all its own. Iris Apfel is described as "wild," "fashion's grand dame," "pioneer," "experimental," "innovative," "artistic," etc. The bottom line is that through Iris viewers not only realize that all those adjectives are true, but that they are only the tip of the iceberg.
Iris is a quintessential New Yorker, born in Astoria, Queens and the daughter of Jewish business owners. Her Mother, Sadye, was Russian and had an eye for fashion, owning a fashion boutique and pointing the way for Iris. Iris pursued Art and Art History at NYU and the University of Wisconsin at a time when most women in America acquiesced to a male-dominated world that demanded they conformed into housewives. As a young woman, Iris was determined to stay the course as she took jobs with Women's Wear Daily, with Elinor Johnson, a designer, and as an assistant to illustrator Robert Goodman. Iris' career really found direction when she met her partner and husband Carl Apfel. Together, they launched a textile firm called Old World Weavers, which allowed the Apfels to travel the world for decades finding treasures that Iris would incorporate into design and fashion, and thus reshape America. Iris is as much about fashion as it is about the love story between Iris and Carl.
In Maysles' documentary Iris speaks very candidly about the assumptions and principles that guide her aesthetics. She makes distinctions between buying and finding, between creating and just putting something together and about the process of expressing oneself and enjoying the art of dressing. Iris loves fashion, she really, really does. She compares fashion and what she does to jazz, using colors and textures as improvisation and taking risks that come from developing one's own style. For Iris, fashion is an everyday thing, after all, people get dressed everyday so why not do it big, bold and with pizzazz?
Maysles' film gives Iris a unique opportunity to recall her life, walk through her collection-and what a collection it is! The Met and other museums salivate at her treasure trove, and more importantly, at how she arranges pieces into sculptures she builds onto mannequins and the human form no matter the size or shape. Iris is the opposite of a minimalist, and even the smallest things matter to her; she's able to show viewers why objects matter to people. She brings to fashion a synthesized history from which she composes ensembles that are spontaneous but rooted in experience. Among many accomplishments, Iris also has under her belt design restoration projects at the White House for nine presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton. When Iris calls some designers "media freaks," she means that they lack a sense of history and curiosity, so their creations can be shallow. Iris makes connections between the modes of production, the craft, the marketing and everything else that ties fashion and consumption together in the world; understanding these connections gives Iris approach to fashion a philosophical quality, viewers may recall Meryl Streep's speech as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada about the fashion industry and the exact relationships that Iris Apfel knows so well.
The beautiful thing about Iris is that even though there are pearls of wisdom, tender moments, heartfelt truths and sharp criticisms throughout, the film never loses focus of what is at the heart of Iris' work and life-love, for her husband, for herself and for the world around her. And, as one would expect from an artist such as her, Iris is funny and kind. Even at the age of 90-something she still takes risks, mastering new avenues for fashion and selling, her phone rings off the hook all day long, and although she identifies one of her current challenges is "staying vertical", once she's up, she's still running ahead of the fashion pack.
Iris shows at Bear Tooth on Monday, June 15 at 5:30 p.m. (1230 W. 27th Ave.)
Maysels' career consisted of documenting lives in a style that honored the subjects and created intimate celluloid connections between viewers and subjects, whether it's the Rolling Stones through Gimme Shelter in 1970, or Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' cousins, Edith Bouvier and her daughter, Edith Bouvier Beale, in Grey Gardens in 1975. Maysles made many of his works alongside his brother, David. Albert Maysles died at the age of 88 this past May, making Iris not only his last film, but a beautiful rendering of Iris' journey in which she individuated, self-actualized and in the process brought a whole industry, society and art along the same journey; fast-forward a century later and Iris has propelled fashion into a world and language all its own. Iris Apfel is described as "wild," "fashion's grand dame," "pioneer," "experimental," "innovative," "artistic," etc. The bottom line is that through Iris viewers not only realize that all those adjectives are true, but that they are only the tip of the iceberg.
Iris is a quintessential New Yorker, born in Astoria, Queens and the daughter of Jewish business owners. Her Mother, Sadye, was Russian and had an eye for fashion, owning a fashion boutique and pointing the way for Iris. Iris pursued Art and Art History at NYU and the University of Wisconsin at a time when most women in America acquiesced to a male-dominated world that demanded they conformed into housewives. As a young woman, Iris was determined to stay the course as she took jobs with Women's Wear Daily, with Elinor Johnson, a designer, and as an assistant to illustrator Robert Goodman. Iris' career really found direction when she met her partner and husband Carl Apfel. Together, they launched a textile firm called Old World Weavers, which allowed the Apfels to travel the world for decades finding treasures that Iris would incorporate into design and fashion, and thus reshape America. Iris is as much about fashion as it is about the love story between Iris and Carl.
In Maysles' documentary Iris speaks very candidly about the assumptions and principles that guide her aesthetics. She makes distinctions between buying and finding, between creating and just putting something together and about the process of expressing oneself and enjoying the art of dressing. Iris loves fashion, she really, really does. She compares fashion and what she does to jazz, using colors and textures as improvisation and taking risks that come from developing one's own style. For Iris, fashion is an everyday thing, after all, people get dressed everyday so why not do it big, bold and with pizzazz?
Maysles' film gives Iris a unique opportunity to recall her life, walk through her collection-and what a collection it is! The Met and other museums salivate at her treasure trove, and more importantly, at how she arranges pieces into sculptures she builds onto mannequins and the human form no matter the size or shape. Iris is the opposite of a minimalist, and even the smallest things matter to her; she's able to show viewers why objects matter to people. She brings to fashion a synthesized history from which she composes ensembles that are spontaneous but rooted in experience. Among many accomplishments, Iris also has under her belt design restoration projects at the White House for nine presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton. When Iris calls some designers "media freaks," she means that they lack a sense of history and curiosity, so their creations can be shallow. Iris makes connections between the modes of production, the craft, the marketing and everything else that ties fashion and consumption together in the world; understanding these connections gives Iris approach to fashion a philosophical quality, viewers may recall Meryl Streep's speech as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada about the fashion industry and the exact relationships that Iris Apfel knows so well.
The beautiful thing about Iris is that even though there are pearls of wisdom, tender moments, heartfelt truths and sharp criticisms throughout, the film never loses focus of what is at the heart of Iris' work and life-love, for her husband, for herself and for the world around her. And, as one would expect from an artist such as her, Iris is funny and kind. Even at the age of 90-something she still takes risks, mastering new avenues for fashion and selling, her phone rings off the hook all day long, and although she identifies one of her current challenges is "staying vertical", once she's up, she's still running ahead of the fashion pack.
Iris shows at Bear Tooth on Monday, June 15 at 5:30 p.m. (1230 W. 27th Ave.)