Fashion quote of the day by Iris Apfel: 'Jewellery is the most transformative thing you can wear'
ETimes July 26, 2026 11:39 PM
Every morning, almost without thinking, we make a hundred tiny decisions. Which shirt? Which shoes? Hair up or down? A swipe of lipstick, maybe. Or none at all. And then comes the last decision - the one we usually spend the least time thinking about. Jewellery.
A pair of earrings.
A favourite ring.
The chain you've worn so often that you don't even remember the last time you took it off.
It seems like a small thing.
Until it isn't.
Fashion icon Iris Apfel once said, "Jewellery is the most transformative thing you can wear." It's one of those quotes that sounds simple the first time you hear it. Almost too simple. But the older you get, the more it begins to make sense.
Because jewellery has never really been about decoration.
It's about identity.
We've all done it.
You've thrown on a basic black dress because you were running late. Five minutes before leaving, you add a pair of oversized silver earrings, and suddenly the outfit feels intentional.
Or maybe it's just jeans and a white shirt. Nothing extraordinary. Then you slip on your grandmother's bangles, and somehow the whole look changes.
The clothes haven't changed.
You have.
That's the thing about jewellery. It has this quiet ability to shift not just an outfit, but the way you carry yourself.
Iris Apfel knew that better than most.
She could've worn the simplest jacket in the room, but once she layered on her chunky beads, stacks of bangles and those unmistakable oversized glasses, it stopped being "a jacket."
It became hers.
That's a lesson fashion sometimes forgets.
We're constantly told to buy the next big trend. This season's handbag. The colour everyone's wearing. The shoes you apparently can't live without.
But think about the people whose style you genuinely admire.
Do you remember the label they wore?
Probably not.
You remember the woman who always wore huge silver cuffs.
The friend who never left home without bright red earrings.
The aunt whose green stone ring was almost as famous as she was.
Style sticks because of details.
Not price tags.
In India, jewellery has always been woven into our lives in ways that go far beyond fashion.
Open an old family locker and you'll find stories before you find gold.
A necklace bought after someone's first salary.
Wedding bangles wrapped carefully in velvet.
An old ring that has quietly passed from one generation to the next without anybody making a big announcement about it.
Every family has pieces like these.
They aren't always expensive.
Sometimes they're slightly worn.
Sometimes the clasp is loose.
But nobody wants to replace them because they're carrying something far more valuable than diamonds.
They're carrying memories.
That's probably why people become emotional about jewellery in a way they rarely do about clothes.
Nobody says, "I hope my granddaughter wears this kurta fifty years from now."
Jewellery is different.
It stays.
It travels through generations.
It survives changing trends, changing wardrobes and sometimes even changing countries.
And somewhere along the way, it begins collecting stories of its own.
That's why bridal jewellery feels so special too.
Long after the wedding lehenga is carefully folded away, the jewellery finds a second life.
The necklace appears at anniversaries.
The earrings come out for Diwali.
The bangles are borrowed by daughters and nieces.
The outfit belongs to a day.
The jewellery belongs to a lifetime
Maybe that's why Iris Apfel called it transformative instead of beautiful.
Beautiful is easy.
Transformation is something else.
It's emotional.
We've all had days when we've looked in the mirror and thought, "Something's missing."
Then you wear your favourite earrings.
Or that watch your father gifted you.
Or the tiny pendant you've worn almost every day for years.
Nothing dramatic has happened.
Yet somehow you stand a little straighter.
You feel a little more like yourself.
Fashion can't always do that.
Jewellery often can.
And it doesn't have to be expensive.
Some of the most stylish people I've met own jewellery that would never make it into a bank locker.
They collect handmade silver from tiny markets while travelling.
They wear colourful glass bangles bought from roadside stalls.
They mix heirloom pieces with flea-market finds without worrying whether everything "matches."
That's real style.
It's personal.
It's instinctive.
It doesn't ask for permission.
That's also why Iris Apfel became such an enduring style icon.
She never dressed for approval.
She dressed because getting dressed was fun.
There was curiosity in the way she layered necklaces. Joy in the way she mixed colours. Confidence in the way she wore pieces that many people would've considered "too much."
She reminded us that fashion doesn't always have to be serious.
Sometimes it can simply make you smile.
Perhaps that's the biggest takeaway from her quote.
Jewellery isn't transformative because it sparkles.
It's transformative because it tells the world something about the person wearing it.
Maybe you're bold.
Maybe you're sentimental.
Maybe you're adventurous.
Maybe you just love a pair of oversized hoops because they make you feel unstoppable on a Monday morning.
All of those choices say something.
Long before you speak, your jewellery has already introduced you.
And maybe that's why, even in an age obsessed with fast fashion and changing trends, we hold on to certain pieces for years.
Not because they're valuable.
But because they become part of us.
The funny thing is, if Iris Apfel walked into a room today, people would probably notice the necklaces first.
But after a few minutes, they'd realise it was never really about the jewellery.
It was about the woman wearing it.
The jewellery simply gave her personality permission to shine.
Maybe that's what great style has always been.
Not wearing what's fashionable.
But wearing what feels unmistakably, wonderfully, unapologetically you.
