The style rules according to 100-year-old Iris Apfel

What are you wearing?” Iris Apfel asks, peering through her signature rimmed glasses over Zoom. “I like it, it’s pretty.” It goes without saying that a compliment from the iconic New Yorker, 100 years old and one of fashion’s few living legends, is a moment to note. A mainstay of the fashion industry, the sharp-tongued Iris – an interior decorator turned fashion plate – is as loved for her eclectic dress sense as she is for her pithy observations.

Unlike most It Girls, Iris was well into her 80s when she became publicly known. In 2005, Harold Koda, the head curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, asked her to create a show from her personal collection of accessories and clothes. Having worked in interior design – Iris and her late husband, Carl, founded the textile company Old World Weavers and were involved in redecorating the White House under Presidents Truman to Clinton – she became a fashion star overnight.

Iris has since starred in campaigns (including for Kate Spade, at 93), collaborated on a make-up collection with Mac, been the subject of the Emmy-nominated documentary Iris, and appeared on magazine covers. She also has over two million followers on Instagram, where her bio reads “More is more & less is a bore”. And for her latest trick? A collaboration with the high-street giant H&M, which lands in stores later this month, to celebrate her centennial year.

“I think it’s important to translate high fashion and good design into prices that people can afford – lots of people either can’t afford fashion or they don’t want to spend so much money on one piece,” she says, gesticulating with arms stacked with bangles.

The 38-piece collection is an all-singing, all-dancing tribute to Iris’s “bold and wild” style – think silky print co-ords, embellished flats and, of course, plenty of costume jewellery.

“I love the whole collection – it’s like asking who is your favourite child. My fans start from six years old and up, and I try to include something for everyone.

“Of course there are things I love that I wouldn’t dream of wearing – maybe 100 years old is a little late for a bikini?” she laughs. “That’s the best thing about getting old, you don’t need to worry about what you look like in a bathing suit any more.”

She credits her relentless work ethic as the ultimate anti-ageing tonic: “I work very hard – I love to work and surround myself with young people who give me lots of inspiration.

“I don’t think you ever really understand everything – every day you have to learn something and keep an open mind. It’s the art of anti-ageing. To close your mind and think you know everything is foolish.