FASHION QUOTE:
Sonia Rykiel
“Perfume is to be worn, like a second skin against your flesh, under a sweater. Perfume follows you, it chases you and lingers behind you. It’s a reference mark. Perfume makes silence talk.”
Written by Andrew Sia
Illustrated by Elita Lam
Sonia Rykiel (May 25, 1930 – August 25, 2016) was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine In France, it is known as Neuilly, west of Paris. It is immediately adjacent to the city and the place is belonging to the most selected residential neighborhood. It is the wealthiest and most expensive suburb of Paris.
Sonia was born to the Jewish parents; her mother was from Poland and her father was a watchmaker from Romania. She was the eldest of five sisters.
In 1948, at the age of 17, she was hired to dress the window display in a Parisian textile store, the Grande Maison de Blanc.
In 1953 she was married to Sam Rykiel, owner of Laura, a boutique selling elegant clothing. They had two children, Nathalie and Jean-Philippe. But they divorced in 1968.
Sonia was known for wearing clothes from her own label and she would prefer colors of dark green, brown, navy and black. She was also known for her distinctive hairstyle—red hair cut into a bob with a heavy fringe.
It was in 1962 while she was pregnant and she used an Italian semester to design and create a dress and sweater for her. The style where her friends found it practical and modern and began to order from her. This became known as the Poor Boy Sweater. The sweater started to sell in her husband’s shop and the Poor Boy Sweater made the cover of the French Elle magazine and it made Rykiel famous. Even the famous actress, Audrey Hepburn, bought 14 of them in every color.
The Sonia Rykiel Company was created in 1965 and in 1968, she opened the first boutique on the Left Bank.
Sonia Rykiel invented many fashion techniques—the first to put seams on the outside of the garment; leave hems unfinished and use put logo on the sweaters. She was dubbed as the “Queen of Knits” by Women’s Wear Daily. She was also known as “Coco Rykiel”, and compared to Coco Chanel.
In 1977, she became the first designer to create a line of clothing for a mail order house – 3 Suisses, a French mail order. The following year, she launched her first fragrance called Septième (Seventh Sense). That was when she quoted, “Perfume is to be worn, like a second skin against your flesh, under a sweater. Perfume follows you, it chases you and lingers behind you. It’s a reference mark. Perfume makes silence talk.”
She also took part in the interior decoration for Hôtel Crillon and Hôtel Lutetia. She also designed and created the costumes for the French musical comedy Les Dix Commandements.
Her daughter, Natalie Rykiel was appointed president of Sonia Rykiel in 2007.
In October 2008, at a fashion show celebrating the brands 40th anniversary, tributes were paid to Rykiel. Thirty fashion designers, including Ralph Lauren, Jean-Paul Gautier and Goirgio Amani, showcased their visions of the “Rykiel women”.
In December 2009, Rykiel and H&M introduced “Sonia Rykiel pour H&M”.
From January 2012, Sonia Rykiel was acquired by Fung Brothers for 80% of the brand which became part of the First Heritage Brands in Hong Kong.
Also a street in Paris was named after Sonia Rykiel in October 2018.
It was in 2019, after years of mismanagement by First Heritage Brands, the Sonia Rykiel brand was being liquidated from its operation.
But Sonia Rykiel died already in August 25, 2016 at the age of 86 due to the complications caused by the Parkinson’s disease. She revealed that she was suffering from the disease for fifteen years. She is survived with her two children, Nathalie and Jean-Paul Rykiel.
The last we read:
The rights to the bankruptcy of this French Luxury brand, Sonia Rykiel and its archive were sold to the owners of the French online store Showroomprive, and the last we heard was that they planned to restart the brand in 2020.
