How to be a beauty icon when you're 101 years old

Like most centenarians, Apfel has amassed a fair few beauty secrets over the years. Photo / Getty Images

There are many ways to approach the ageing process. Some people try to halt it by means of surgery and denial. Others try to embrace it as the inevitable part of life that it is. Few people embrace it with the verve, vigour and all-round joie de vivre as Iris Apfel. Now in her 102nd year, the centenarian shows no signs of slowing down, or of abdicating her exalted and well-deserved position as a muse and fashion icon. Quite the opposite, for Apfel has just added another string to her bow, by launching her first makeup collection, in collaboration with Ciate London.

The eight-piece collection, which includes lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes and nail wraps, embodies the quirky, colourful style which has made Apfel such a well-loved figure in the fashion industry. "The world is a very grey place, and I wanted to do a happy, joyful collection with bright, bold colours to chase the blues away," she says. "The collaboration was so much fun: they really let me play with the colours I wanted to explore."

Like most centenarians, Apfel has amassed a fair few beauty secrets over the years, the key one being to keep things simple. "I don't do much for beauty. I use a very simple moisturiser on my face, and then a brightly coloured lipstick. It's part of how I express myself, along with fashion. I put on my bright lipstick and I feel confident in myself."

'If I'm going to have to wear glasses, I might as well have GLASSES'. Photo / AP

Beauty-wise, her younger years were as experimental as you'd expect. "I used to do my eyes up like Miss Piggy," she laughs. "I loved heavy, big lashes, which we achieved with moustache wax. You put a chunk of it in a spoon and held a flame underneath, then you took a brush and you kept building the lashes, layer after layer, and beaded the ends. It looked great." Given the current vogue for ultra-long, fake-looking false lashes, perhaps Gen Z could learn a thing or two.

We could all learn from Iris Apfel, a woman who is living proof that it's never too late to add new strings to your bow. Born in Queens, New York, in 1921, she studied art history at New York University and worked as a copywriter for Women's Wear Daily, eventually going on to run her own textile company with her husband, Carl. She helped decorate the White House for nine presidents, as well as tending to the homes of Greta Garbo. When Carl died in 2015, she was determined to continue to live life for both of them. Aged 97, she signed her first modelling deal, with IMG, the talent agency which also represents the Hadid sisters and Gisele Bundchen. When Apfel was 98, Mattel created a Barbie doll in her image. Aged 100, she launched her own range of spectacles. And now, aged 101, a makeup range – the perfect venture for someone who describes herself as the world's oldest teenager. "It's the way I live," she explains. "I love to learn and discover new things. I think I've still maintained my sense of childlike wonder."

This sense of childlike wonder is evident in her exuberant, colourful style. The eye is drawn to her, thanks in no small part to her bold eyewear, as much as a signature as was Karl Lagerfeld's fan. "If I'm going to have to wear glasses, I might as well have GLASSES," she smiles. "For me, glasses inspire or finish all of my looks. They are a fantastic way to find your own unique style and change things up." She also professes not to follow trends. "I always like to dress my own way. Fashion should always be fun. Embrace your individuality and dress how you want to dress. It's wonderful to look good, but if it doesn't make you feel comfortable, or it becomes a chore, then it's not worth it."

'If you're lucky and God gives you extra years, I should think you'd want to flaunt it and not hide it'. Photo / Getty Images

She gives equally short shrift to the idea that you have to spend money to look fashionable. "Absolutely not. I often find that the less money you have to spend on clothes, the more inventive you are, so you end up looking more stylish. I've always dressed for myself. I'm not a rebel and I don't do things to shock, but I don't care what anybody thinks."

Like her beauty routine, Apfel's wellness routine is simple. "I'm very active and I don't sit still very much. I like to eat well, I don't like rich food, and I don't eat junk food." She has the same no-nonsense approach to surgical enhancement. "Youthfulness is how you feel. Getting older is not easy, but I'm very opposed to plastic surgery. I don't know why there's this mad obsession to look years younger than you are. If you're lucky and God gives you extra years, I should think you'd want to flaunt it and not hide it. You can be attractive at any age. Trying to look like a spring chicken when you're not makes you look ridiculous. My philosophy is to live in the now – yesterday is gone, you don't know if there's even going to be a tomorrow, so you might as well enjoy today."