FASHION SAAVY

IRIS APFEL SET THE STAGE, usually seen in her large circle lens eyewear, for the unimaginable in older women's "fancy style." She was the "unexpected." She brought life back into the "absent years." She awakened courage in women who had spun their wiles long ago, so long ago in their lives that worries and time washed self worth further away than just "under the rug." When a majority of women, tired from the winner's lot of "equal rights" to tow the rope (regardless of how heavy or how taut) noticed women in their own group by age status, it was "the bomb." It brought an awakening of encouragement for older women. Enter Iris Apfel... an aged "come to surface" fashioning model, clothing statement desinger. Iris Apfel was outstanding in her regalia of shocking color and textile. She ignored the issue of age and poured life in the streets, onto film and more recently, on the New York runways among the rich and famous as defined by film and screen. They announced that she had won by sheer bravado in her fashion design and wit for combining the auspicious elements of accent. Her four inch round lenses on eyewear, heavy layers of unimagineable ornament scaled beads... some in precious metals and pearls... complimented by scarves, hats and bracelets all carved a niche not discovered by Hollywood and it's prestaged closets. She was fashion rebirthed.

A recent loss to age and time, Ms Apfel set a stage for older women... and men, to tacke charge of their appearance. Dress for life ongoing. Dress as if life was still bringing what life had to offer. There was a "fancy dressed older women" movement taking center stage across the United State and Europe that could be a cause claimed by Iris Apfel and her companions often seen in photos online and in magazines. The truth to the matter is that with all that life has to offer, whether we make it into the Hollywood scene or not, there is so much more to being alive than waiting to peer through a window to the outside world. It is almost an obligation to be in the world as we live within it. With so much that could paint a sad picture around the dereliction of today's society, the simple addition of our selves... the introduction of a raised head (instead of hanging heads for sorrows) and a rainbow of colors that depict determination and smiles, laughter at the throes of life handed us simply by the FACT THAT WE STILL LIVE. We are alive in spite of the turmoils experienced from our youth, forward through time. We are alive. Demonstrate that event. Show it in a regalia of color and style past the 1950's house dress and faded colors of past frustrations. With chores of family raising and household management at its end or nearing that final stage so that the "mother of the house" can become what she has want to become... a WOMAN OF THE HOME, why not live these days as such. Dress the fancy as well affordable. Take note from the women who set the stage, not of Hollywood and France, but on the runways of daily living. In your next stroll out to service a general public issue... to vote, to pay in on a utility, to drop a dime into a tax structure, to simply walk a dog; bring a bit of excitement to announce your stern determination. Be like Iris Apfel and so many others now who dress to make a statement that THEY ARE PART OF LIFE. You be a part of life too. Choose to >Look< out at the world and be in it!