In 2018, she published the autobiographical Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, a personal take on her life and style. For it, the designer Dries Van Noten summarised her with affection: “I have rarely met someone as vivid, as alive, as vital, vivacious, irreverent, joyous, relevant, and needed as Iris. She breathes young air, thinks young thoughts, and gathers no dust,” he said.