Sonia Rykiel
Paris designer whose bo-ho fashions defied the conventions of haute couture
THE DESIGNER of the Poor Boy Sweater which graced the cover of French was known in the industry as the Queen of Knits. Yet Sonia Rykiel, who has died in Paris aged 86, confessed she did not know one end of a knitting needle from another.
A distinctive figure with her shockred bobbed hair, she had a touch of Edith Piaf about her – the deep eyes, highcheekbones andsad-cynicalsmile. She stamped her personality on simple, wearable styles in earthy colours, reflecting her dislike of getting dressed.
Rykiel’s career took off in 1962 when shewaspregnant,withnothingtowear. She found an Italian clothing supplier to design a figure hugging dress and a sweaterwithhigh-cutarmholes–shocking an industry which disguised pregnancy with maternity smocks.
Sonia Flis was the daughter of RomanianwatchmakerAlfredandhisRussian wife Fanny née Tesler. She was born in the suburbs of Paris, the eldest of five sisters, all equally red-haired and vibrant. They were an artistic Jewish family living in the Neuilly sur Seine suburb of Paris, lying low at the approach of the Second World War. At the age of 17 she dressed the windows of a Parisian textile store, the Grande Maison de Blanc, where Henri Matisse, bought most of the scarves she displayed.
The Poor Boy Sweater, ribbed and striped, was long in the design, and finally modelled by Francoise Hardy for the cover. While many knitwear companies tried and failed to emulate it, her prototype went viral among her friends. Audrey Hepburn and Brigitte Bardot bought dozens of sweaters.
In1953shemarriedSamRykiel,whose boutique featured several of her designs, including dresses and a raincoat. The couple had two children, Nathalie and Jean-Philippe. Aided by her husband she launched the Sonia Rykiel Company in 1965 and three years later, as her marriage was failing, she opened her first boutique in Rue de Grenelle on the Left Bank of Paris. Politics intervened in the shape of student protests the day before the boutique launch. But undaunted, she simply delayed the opening to a more auspicious time. Her practical designs challenged haute cou- ture with her own cheaper,
clothes. The boutique later moved to Boulevard Saint-Germain.
Rykiel’s imagination surpassed the Poor Boy sweater. She reversed seams from inside to outside, allowed hems to flow unfinished and invented the proclamatory slogan on fashion items. She dramatized black as the colour of choice – “the colour of philosophers, writers and artists.” She also used electric blue and fuchsia pink.
Having pioneered her designer clothes by mail order in 1977, she launched her first fragrances,
Seventh Sense) aptly named for her in 1978. She also ventured into both hotel interior design and theatre costume design, creating fashions for the French musical comedy
In fact the Rykiel woman became a brand in itself as she rejected the stuffiness of the high fashion world, using sensual rather than skinny models, and evoking a feminine, collegiate atmosphere that was creative, artistic and natural. She even – satirically perhaps – termed her designs and in spite of it all won the plaudits of fashion designers like Ralph Lauren, Jean Paul Gaultier and Giorgio Armani.
But the trendy striped sweater, the slogan-bearing T shirt remained, totally endorsing brand Rykiel. Her admirers included Michelle Obama.
Rykiel valued sophistication. Her Left Bank apartment and her boutique, decorated in black, were the focus for writers, artists and publishers, making her something of a contemporary artistic
Enticed by drama, she had a walk-on part with her collection in Robert Altman’s 1994 film and appeared in a 1998 French comedy film in1998.Thoughshedidnotremarryshe had several lovers – often at the same time – from all over the world.
Apart from designing, Rykiel wrote fashion books, children’s stories, magazine columns and co-authored a novel. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1996, she gradually assigned her business to her daughterNathalie.In2008leadingParis designerspaidtributetoheratafashion showcelebratingthebrand’s40thanniversary, while in 2008 her designs featured in a Paris exhibition at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs. In December, 2009 Rykiel launched two important operations with Swedish retailer H&M. That same year she was appointed a commander of the Legion d’Honneur. She is survived by her children Nathalie and Jean-Philippe. Born May 23, 1930, died August 25, 2016