THE BOOK: 'ACCIDENTAL ICON' BY IRIS APFEL

Anyone who loves fashion, accessories and a good dose of quirk should read “Accidental Icon” by Iris Apfel, a provoking, inspiring and fun book that launched in early March. Far from a memoir, the lively tome captures the life, career and personality of this vibrant 96-year old fashion icon, at once model, muse, designer and style setter. Apfel takes the reader on an intimate and immersive journey about her life story and unwavering passion for fashion, recounted through personal musings, standpoints, style essays and anecdotes, all framed by a rich and variegated imagery. Witty, well-versed, smart and versatile, Apfel shares and discusses several topics, from her restoration works at the White House to her aversion for social media to her creativity celebrated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Past aside, Apfel still rocks. Actually, she’s working even harder, in part to ease the loss of her husband Carl Apfel, who died a couple of years ago, after 68 years spent together. Together they cofounded Old World Weavers, a textile manufacturing company specialized in reproducing antique fabrics and whose clientele included Greta Garbo, Estee Lauder, Montgomery Clift and Joan Rivers. Apfel’s penchant for thinking out of the box is also evident in her signature look - cropped gray hair, oversized round glasses, brightly colored attire and piles of eccentric costume jewelry. Spurred by such a high-wattage and action-packed life, Apfel shows no sign of slowing down, claiming that age is just a number, and citing Abraham Lincoln, who said, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”