Knitwear design icon Sonia Rykiel dies at 86
SONIA Rykiel, the French fashion designer known as the Queen of Knitwear, died yesterday at the age of 86 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, her daughter said.
The pioneering Rykiel was a fixture in the industry for half-a-century, launching her own fashion house in 1968 buoyed by the Swinging Sixties craze in London and the emerging feminist movement.
Her easy-to-wear “chic”, iconic stripes and bright colours quickly came to typify a new generation of liberated women.
“She invented not just a style but an attitude, a way of living and being, and offered a freedom of movement,” President Francois Hollande said in a tribute. She made her breakthrough in 1962 with the so-called Poor Boy Sweater, a garment designed for women that had long sleeves and a shorter, fitted shape.
The Poor Boy met resistance at first, but that changed in December 1963 when Elle magazine featured French pop idol Francoise Hardy on its front cover in a Rykiel number. It became a sensation. Brigitte Bardot and fellow singer Sylvie Vartan were photographed in Rykiel sweaters and actress Audrey Hepburn snapped up five of them.
Over the decades, she branched out into other areas of fashion, but always remained true to knitwear, with fluid, innovative shapes. – AFP