Details
Collarless with two patch pockets at hips, one pocket at chest, from the 1982 spring/summer collection, together with two pairs of embellished jeans, one labeled Roberto Cavalli Summer 2003 and one labeled Just Cavalli, a green leather belt with apple buckle detail and a wooden chain necklace
Marked size 36 (the jacket)
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Lot Essay

Iris Apfel took great pride in being "probably the first woman to wear jeans" (Iris, 2014).

While these Cavalli examples reflect the eclectic quirkiness of her wardrobe, a staple pair of denim jeans feels today like a departure from her cutting-edge fashion sense. Iris remembers a time when this was not the case, writing in her memoir, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, "Women didn’t wear jeans. They couldn’t buy jeans. They weren’t a fashion item in the late 1930s and early 1940s. I was met with confusion and a hint of dismay when I asked for them at the army-navy store in Wisconsin, where I was at college. But I had this big gingham turban and big earrings that I felt would be perfect with a crisp shirt and work jeans.” (2018)

Eventually, the army-navy store supplied Iris with a pair of boys' jeans, for which she was "delirious with joy." Her love for denim continued throughout her life.

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Unapologetically Iris: The Collection of Iris Apfel
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