Ever wondered how many things are in beloved New York fashion fixture Iris Apfel‘s wardrobe? The answer: A lot.Apfel is donating 600 items from her personal wardrobe to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The generous donation will include pieces ranging from Alexander McQueen and Lanvin, to vintage flea market baubles, all of which the 90-year-old has amassed over five decades, reports The Boston Globe. The combination of art objects, garments and accessories will surely include much of the OTT eyewear and jewelry the “world’s oldest teenager” (as she describes herself) is known for.
It isn’t the first time the white-haired icon has been immortalized. In 2005 the Metropolitan Museum did an exhibition, “Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel,” which travelled to the Peabody Essex in 2009. Apfel was impressed with the local museum and started donating about 90 pieces a year, which brings the total amount of donated pieces to around 900.
The Globe quotes Apfel saying,
I think Peabody Essex is a fabulous place. Having dealt with a lot of art museums, I can tell you that I was very pleased with the way that it’s run. I think they’re quite cutting edge. This museum is much more cross-cultural than others I’ve worked with and mixes it up a bit.If the museum was cutting edge already, having Apfel’s eclectic mash up of designer and vintage certainly ups the ante.
The town is already on the map thanks to the infamous Salem witch trials (so adding The Crucible to my Netflix queue), but is bound to attract a new set of well-heeled tourists eager for a peek at the chic treasures. Apfel and her husband Carl also donated an undisclosed amount of money for a fashion gallery in a new wing of the museum slated to open in 2017.
Summer road trip to Salem, anyone?
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