VISITING THE MUSEUM OF COSTUME ART WITH IRIS APFEL

The Grandma has decided to visit The Museum of Costume Art, a part of the MET with a special cicerone, Iris Apfel, her closer friend. 

The Museum of Costume Art was founded by Aline Bernstein and Irene Lewisohn. In 1937, they merged with the Met and became its Costume Institute department. Today, its collection contains more than 35,000 costumes and accessories. The Costume Institute used to have a permanent gallery space in what was known as the Basement area of the Met because it was downstairs at the bottom of the Met facility. 

However, due to the fragile nature of the items in the collection, the Costume Institute does not maintain a permanent installation. Instead, every year it holds two separate shows in the Met's galleries using costumes from its collection, with each show centering on a specific designer or theme. The Costume Institute is known for hosting the annual Met Gala. 

More information: The Costume Institute-Digital Collections

In past years, Costume Institute shows organized around famous designers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Gianni Versace; and style doyenne like Diana Vreeland, Mona von Bismarck, Babe Paley, Jayne Wrightsman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Nan Kempner, and Iris Apfel have drawn significant crowds to the Met. 

The Costume Institute's annual Benefit Gala, co-chaired by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, is an extremely popular, if exclusive, event in the fashion world; in 2007, the 700 available tickets started at $6,500 per person. . 

Born Iris Barrel in Astoria, Queens, New York, Apfel is the only child of Samuel Barrel, whose family owned a glass-and-mirror business, and his Russian-born wife, Sadye, who owned a fashion boutique. Both were Jewish.

She studied art history at New York University and attended art school at the University of Wisconsin. As a young woman, Apfel worked for Women's Wear Daily and for interior designer Elinor Johnson. She also was an assistant to illustrator Robert Goodman.

On Feb 22, 1948, she married Carl Apfel (1914-2015). Two years later, they launched the textile firm Old World Weavers and ran it until they retired in 1992. From 1950 to 1992, Iris Apfel took part in several design restoration projects, including work at the White House for nine presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton.

Through their business, the couple began traveling all over the world where she began buying pieces of non-Western, artisanal clothes. She wore these clothes to clients' high-society parties.

More information: Iris Apfel's Instagram

On September 13, 2005, The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York premiered an exhibition about Iris Apfel's style entitled Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel. 

The success of the exhibition, curated by Stéphane Houy-Towner, prompted an initial traveling version of the exhibit at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor, New York, and later at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History in Boynton Beach, Florida, is designing a building that will house a dedicated gallery of Apfel's clothes, accessories, and furnishings. 

At age 90 in 2012, Apfel was a visiting professor at University of Texas at Austin. In 2013, she was listed as one of the fifty Best-Dressed over 50 by The Guardian.

Apfel is the star of a documentary by Albert Maysles, called Iris. It premiered at the New York Film Festival in October 2014, and was subsequently acquired by Magnolia Pictures for US theatrical distribution in 2015. Apfel was also featured in the documentary If You’re Not In the Obit, Eat Breakfast, a television film which premiered in 2017.

More information: Magpictures

It's better to be happy than to be well-dressed. 

Iris Apfel

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S WITH CENTENARY IRIS APFEL

Today, The Grandma has met Iris Apfel, the American businesswoman, interior designer, and fashion icon, who is a Grandma's old friend. Together, they have had breakfast at Tiffany's remembering another old friend, Holly Golightly.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, written by George Axelrod, adapted from Truman Capote's 1958 novella of the same name, and starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a naïve, eccentric café society girl who falls in love with a struggling writer. It was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1961, to critical and commercial success.

Nominated for five Academy Awards (winning two), with the music (including Moon River) nominated for six Grammy Awards (winning five), the film was selected in 2012 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

More information: BBC

Iris Apfel (née Barrel; born August 29, 1921) is an American businesswoman, interior designer, and fashion icon.

In business with her husband, Carl, from 1950 to 1992, Apfel led a career in textiles, including a contract with the White House that spanned nine presidencies.

In retirement, she drew acclaim for a 2005 show at the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring her collection of costume jewelry and styled with clothes on mannequins as she would wear it. She has become a fashion icon, she signed to IMG in 2019 as a model at age 97 and featured in a 2014 documentary called Iris by Albert Maysles.

Born Iris Barrel in Astoria, Queens, New York on August 29, 1921, Apfel is the only child of Samuel Barrel (1897-1967), whose family owned a glass and mirror business, and his Russian-born wife, Sadye Barrel (1898-1998), who owned a fashion boutique. Both were Jewish.

Although raised on a farm by her parents and grandparents, she often rode the subway in to explore Manhattan, where she fell in love with Greenwich Village. While still a child, she shopped its antique shops, starting her extraordinary collection of jewellery from around the world.

She studied art history at New York University and attended art school at the University of Wisconsin.

More information: Twitter-Iris Apfel

 As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands,
one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

Audrey Hepburn

THE BEANS IN THE COSTUME INSTITUTE WITH IRIS APFEL

The Beans in The Museum of Costume Art

The weather in New York City is dangerous today. The city is in special alert because of the arrival of a bomb cyclone.  

The Beans have cancelled their activities on open air and they have decided to visit a closed place: The Museum of Costume Art, a part of the MET which they didn't visited last week because they were waiting the arrival of a special cicerone: Iris Apfel, an old Grandma's friend. 

The Museum of Costume Art was founded by Aline Bernstein and Irene Lewisohn. In 1937, they merged with the Met and became its Costume Institute department. Today, its collection contains more than 35,000 costumes and accessories. The Costume Institute used to have a permanent gallery space in what was known as the Basement area of the Met because it was downstairs at the bottom of the Met facility. 

However, due to the fragile nature of the items in the collection, the Costume Institute does not maintain a permanent installation. Instead, every year it holds two separate shows in the Met's galleries using costumes from its collection, with each show centering on a specific designer or theme. The Costume Institute is known for hosting the annual Met Gala. 

More information: The Costume Institute-Digital Collections

In past years, Costume Institute shows organized around famous designers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Gianni Versace; and style doyenne like Diana Vreeland, Mona von Bismarck, Babe Paley, Jayne Wrightsman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Nan Kempner, and Iris Apfel have drawn significant crowds to the Met. 

The Costume Institute's annual Benefit Gala, co-chaired by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, is an extremely popular, if exclusive, event in the fashion world; in 2007, the 700 available tickets started at $6,500 per person. . 

Iris Apfel at her home

Born Iris Barrel in Astoria, Queens, New York, Apfel is the only child of Samuel Barrel, whose family owned a glass-and-mirror business, and his Russian-born wife, Sadye, who owned a fashion boutique. Both were Jewish.

She studied art history at New York University and attended art school at the University of Wisconsin. As a young woman, Apfel worked for Women's Wear Daily and for interior designer Elinor Johnson. She also was an assistant to illustrator Robert Goodman.

On Feb 22, 1948, she married Carl Apfel (1914-2015). Two years later, they launched the textile firm Old World Weavers and ran it until they retired in 1992. From 1950 to 1992, Iris Apfel took part in several design restoration projects, including work at the White House for nine presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton.

Through their business, the couple began traveling all over the world where she began buying pieces of non-Western, artisanal clothes. She wore these clothes to clients' high-society parties.

More information: Iris Apfel's Instagram

On September 13, 2005, The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York premiered an exhibition about Iris Apfel's style entitled Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel. 

Iris Apfel

The success of the exhibition, curated by Stéphane Houy-Towner, prompted an initial traveling version of the exhibit at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor, New York, and later at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History in Boynton Beach, Florida, is designing a building that will house a dedicated gallery of Apfel's clothes, accessories, and furnishings. 

At age 90 in 2012, Apfel was a visiting professor at University of Texas at Austin. In 2013, she was listed as one of the fifty Best-Dressed over 50 by The Guardian.

Apfel is the star of a documentary by Albert Maysles, called Iris. It premiered at the New York Film Festival in October 2014, and was subsequently acquired by Magnolia Pictures for US theatrical distribution in 2015. Apfel was also featured in the documentary If You’re Not In the Obit, Eat Breakfast, a television film which premiered in 2017.

More information: Magpictures

It's better to be happy than to be well-dressed. 

Iris Apfel

MIRIAM BOND, SALVE REGINA, HAIL HOLY QUEEN!

Miriam Bond and her memories

Today, The Bonds have had an amazing day. After revising some Telephoning English and creating some guesses about the family, they have been talking about religious people who dedicate their lives to help other ones and who try to improve this world which is crazier every day.

The Grandma has remembered two unforgettable friends: Sister Miriam and Sister Leo. Sister Miriam was a Nicaraguan nun, a wonderful music teacher and a better person. Sister Leo was is a Teresian nun who preferred working with poor people that living rounded by comforts.

More information: Portal Gaudí

Miriam Bond has decided to offer her life to help people who are in troubles. This is the reason because of she's going to travel with the family to San Francisco but she's going to stay in the city, join to Deloris Van Cartier's congregation and she's not going to continue travelling with The Bonds.

The family has a mixed feeling: for one hand, they are excited and very happy because this is something that Miriam wanted to do but, for other hand, they're going to miss her a lot. After Rubén Bond's leaving, Miriam was the only spiritual refuge for all the members of this enjoyable family.

More information: American English (Games)

The family, who has returned to New York City for personal reasons before travelling to San Francisco, has been invited to participate in a UNO's Forum named Working in the 21st Century: how to combine family and job. The Grandma has offered a long speech about it, and of course, it's only a point of view which can be different for every member of the family because they're different people with different situations but with a common goal: enjoy their trips, meet lots of people, know incredible stories about different cultures, learn as English as it was possible and think that the most important is to feel fine with themselves to be ready when, in a closer future, they have to return to work again.

After the speech, The Grandma has visited an old friend, Iris Apfel, a great example of success and effort.

I just find myself happy with the simple things. 

Appreciating the blessings God gave me.  

DMX