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Sonia Rykiel was born in Paris, France in 1930.
At the age of 17, she was employed to dress the window displays in a
Parisian textile store. Her first designs in 1962, were of maternity
dresses for herself because she was unable to find any soft sweaters
when she was pregnant. Shortly after, she started designing for her
husband's company Laura.
One
of her first creations was the Poorboy Sweater, which made the cover of
Elle fashion magazine, and brought her fame. She later became the first
designer to put seams on the outside of a garment, and to print words
on her sweater.
In 1968, she opened her first boutique.
Specializing in knitwear, Rykiel is a first rate designer, creating
elegant, fluid garments in soft wools, jersey, angor and mohair.
A
sensual outline is important to her garments and many are
figure-hugging. She has also experimented with seams (reversing them to
the outside) and with asymmetrical cuts. Her Lurex knitwear is
sophisticated enough for evening. P align=left
style='margin-right:30.0pt;margin-left:.5in'> The Americans call her
the "Queen of Knitwear". She is the one who encouraged Robert Altman to
make his ready-to-wear film "Pret-a-Porter.
In particular, she
favours long clinging sweaters or small cropped pullovers, large
rolled-back cuffs and long shawls. Her outer wear often includes
voluminous cape-like garments. Her colours are predominantly beige,
grey, dark blue and charcoal. Rykiel has written many books, including
an A to Z of fashion, and a collection of childrens stories.
In
October 2001, she showed her Spring 2002 collection at the Louvre in
Paris, proving that nothing has changed in almost 40 years she has been
designing. Her slim fitted sweaters, her love for scrawling random
words across a chest or down an arm endures, as does her signature
stripes.
Even though she is in her 70's, Sonia is no prude. In
her latest collection, she has included sex toys, amusing underwear and
vibrators to signify the freedom of women.
Her daughter Nathalie collaborates with her now, on all her fashion activities. |
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