Sonia Rykiel told story of a generation of women with one simple sweater
Queen of knitwear created great clothes that broke with formality, captured a sense of possibility and spoke to women in the 1960s seeking to forge careers and explore sexual freedom and independence
The death of designer Sonia Rykiel is one of those singular moments when we are reminded that fashion has come a long way, which is to say that women have come quite far as well.
Rykiel, with her flaming red hair and uniform of all-black attire, was 86 when she died on Thursday after years of living with Parkinson’s disease. She had long been retired from the label that continues to bear her name. Her legacy had been carried forward by her daughter, Nathalie, as well as the brand’s current designer, Julie de Libran.
In straightforward fashion terms, Rykiel will be remembered for her affinity for knitwear. She was adept at creating a jaunty little sweater – a fine-ribbed style known at the “poor boy” – that felt young and easy-going but that could be worn by a multitude of stylish women. The quintessential Rykiel look was of a chic woman in a beret and a striped version of that little pullover sashaying around the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter of Paris. That neighbourhood is on the Left Bank, which was Rykiel’s world, and even today the brand prefers to present its new collections in the tight, maze-like confines of its store there.
The location is not simply geography; it’s a state of mind. Or at least it was back when the area was known mostly for its bookshops and cafes rather than the extravagant Ralph Lauren boutique and the Louis Vuitton outpost. Rykiel arrived on the fashion scene in the early 1960s.