Respect Your Elders: Lynn Yaeger

Lynn's Zen.

The grand dame of funky fashion, Ms. Lynn Yaeger, is extremely shy about revealing her actual calendar age, but I'm assuming she's older than me, so therefore she fits in the category of elders I respect, regardless of her real age. I hope she's not offended! Her look, while hair-raising to some (a friend of mine literally said, "Damn, who left the asylum door open?!" upon randomly spotting Ms. Yaeger on the street) is hopeful and eternal in its avant quirk. There is no one like her. No one at all.

Baby Lynnie gets bagged.

Her cupid bow lips, red-rouged cheeks, and flaming short-banged bob are legendarily singular. She's Rei Kawakubo's biggest fan, and prefers to rock Comme des Garcon tutus to almost anything else. And yet, she's not esoteric in the least. Her concept of fashion is broad and inclusive. She may be nothing like you, but she's out to help you be free to be you. She uses the fashion industry to champion individuality. Her extreme outsider look is actually her attempt to make fashion more accepting. She's primed and primped to be your radical role model. As an atypical girl with fashion dreams, I appreciate Lynn's efforts and gain much inspiration from her boldness. It's not all skinny chicks and svelte tailoring in this biz. With Lynn as proof, it's also about freedom of expression and artistic exhibition.

Lynn's signature Comme style.

She may have gotten laid off last January from her 30-year long post at The Village Voice, but she's a trooper. Lynn's first order of business after getting canned was to return about $3,000 worth of recent purchases to department stores. Who needs a $1,000 Lanvin bag when the bank account's in danger? Not this flexible fashionista. Lynn's an extremely talented, award-winning fashion writer and I have no concerns about her livelihood. She's already been scooped up for blogging duty by The Cut, and reported from her (mostly) prime seats at this past Fashion Month. When you live by your own rules, it's harder to be held back by circumstance.

Lynn's laid-off ethos, from Chic Intuition.

In any interview I've ever seen with Lynn, she's kept to her credo without fail. A mic wielding interviewer will inevitably ask her, "Lynn, can you give our readers some dos and donts, some fashion rules?" And, she will always answer, "There are no rules, everything is a do as long as you love it." That's my kinda lady!

Here, take a car ride with Lynnie:



I'm not for censorship, but if you say a mean thing about Lynn Yaeger, I'll have a really hard time not deleting and not calling you jealous. Lynn, I've got your back!

Respect Your Elders: Iris Apfel.

In fashion there are only a handful of people who can defy every rule, every standard, every purportedly perfect method of dress and still light the world up with their natural born sartorial skills. One member of that very small club has been popping up a lot on the fashion scene this season and she deserves every bit of attention she's getting. Ms. Iris Apfel is a rare bird indeed, an oldschool New Yorker with taste that repels the mere notion of categorization.

Iris snapped by Yvan Rodic at the New York shows.

She's 87, an accomplished, lauded veteran of the Interior Design profession, and the co-founder of the highly reputed textile company Old World Weavers. Her signature round spectacles and a penchant for copious accessories has made her the toast of fashion town for years now.

The lady's got balls. (Sorry, I had to.)


Iris with her husband Carl, who she also dresses.

She's a true original and one of the only living fashion legends to have been honored with a wardrobe retrospective at the Costume Institute at the Met. Loves her.

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