Ethnically a Polish Jew, Sonia Rykiel was born in Paris, France in 1930.
At the age of 17, Sonia was employed to dress the window displays in a Parisian textile store. Sonia Rykiel was married to the owner of a boutique which sold elegant clothing. In 1962 she just couldn't find any soft sweaters to wear when she was pregnant. So she used a supplier to her husband from Venice to design her own.
Sonia Rykiel created her first maternity dresses and tiny sweater. The sweater is her symbol and she was crowned "Queen of Knits" by the Americans in 1967. The sweater went back 7 times for alterations before she was satisfied with it.
From then, Sonia Rykiel has experimented with seams inside out, took away the hem and lining, and created a range of fragrances of which '7e Sens' was the first. This first creation was called the Poor boy Sweater, and she started selling it from her husbands label "Laura". It made the cover of ELLE fashion magazine, and brought her fame.
Sonia Rykiel later became the first designer to put seams on the outside of a garment, and to print words on her sweaters. In particular, she favours long clinging sweaters or small cropped pullovers, large rolled-back cuffs and long shawls.
Sonia Rykiel colours are usually beige, grey, dark blue and charcoal.
Rykiel has written many books, including an A to Z of fashion, and a collection of children’s stories. In 1980 she was voted one of the world's 10 most elegant women. She proved that knitwear can follow any trend.
Sonia Rykiel also hit the current idea of the big soft fun fur done as a huge bubble of colour, in her case baby pink, purple knitted fox or teal-blue Mongolian lamb. During Paris Fashion Week in October 2003, Sonia Rykiel showed her own collection for next spring.
There were also gorgeous ruffled dresses in vintage floral and polka dot prints and smart hounds tooth coats. Sonia and her daughter Nathalie have decided to bring Paris to New York. In February 2005 Henri Bendel launched an in-store shop for the Sonia Rykiel Woman line.
It will almost certainly be as successful as in France.
There are three Sonia Rykiel boutiques in the U.S. and they are in Boston, New York and Guam. Rykiel collaborated with impresario and performer Malcolm McLaren on the song "Who the Hell is Sonia Rykiel?" on McLaren's 1995 album Paris.
Sonia Rykiel website
