Image by Getty Images

By Thea Glassman August 31, 2016

Iris Apfel has some choice fashion advice for older women.

The style icon, who celebrated her 95th birthday on Monday, told Fashionista that there are a few major fashion don’ts she thinks need to be avoided.

“There are just some certain things that older women shouldn’t do,” she said. “…Older women shouldn’t show excess flesh. They should wear sleeves. They shouldn’t wear mini skirts. They shouldn’t wear very high heels. They shouldn’t wear too much makeup. They shouldn’t have long, flowing hair. Things like that which are just common sense.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Then again, she’s not mad if you throw all those rules out the window.

“I want you to be happy. I always say it’s better to be happy than well dressed.” the designer said. “Do your own thing. I don’t sit and judge anybody.”

She does, however, have some major qualms with the fashion industry’s “youth-oriented” approach to older women’s fashion. Apfel explained that she feels the older generation gets neglected when it comes to affordable, fashionable clothing.

“I think a lot of designers create very expensive clothes for women [in their] 60s and 70s — people who wear them — and they create them for 16- and 18-year-old bodies.” Apfel said. “The kids can’t afford to buy them and the women look like a horse’s ass if they put it on. So it’s all out of whack.”

But don’t go throwing around the term “age-appropriate.”

“I think if a woman has her own style and knows who she is, she doesn’t have to dress for being 60 or 20 or 90,” she said.

Damn straight.

Thea Glassman is a Multimedia Fellow at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @theakglassman.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount