French-Jewish designer Sonia Rykiel dies aged 86
The French 'pioneer' was dubbed as being the 'Queen of knitwear' passed away this week
Sonia Rykiel, a French designer dubbed the “queen of knitwear” whose relaxed sweaters in berry-coloured stripes and eye-popping motifs helped liberate women from stuffy suits, has died aged 86.
French President Francois Hollande’s office announced her death in a statement on Thursday, praising her as “a pioneer” who “offered women freedom of movement”.
Born to a Polish father and Romanian mother, Rykiel was brought up by an upper-class Jewish family
For the generation of women who came of age in the heady 1960s and 70s, Rykiel, with her hallmark bright orange hair, came to symbolise the new era of freedom.
She also penned several novels – including one about a dress and its various incarnations – and figured in director Robert Altman’s satirical 1994 look at the fashion industry, Pret-a-Porter.
Rykiel, got her start by designing knit maternity dresses for herself. She became a fixture of the Paris fashion scene starting in 1968 when she opened her first ready-to-wear shop on the Left Bank at a time when student riots were challenging France’s bourgeoisie establishment.
The designer’s empire grew to include menswear and children’s lines as well as accessories, perfumes and home goods, sold in the label’s stores on four continents.
Her daughter, Nathalie Rykiel, who as a young woman used to model her mother’s garments on the catwalk, has long helped manage the fashion house. The business was among France’s last major family-owned labels until it was sold to a Hong Kong investment fund in 2012.
Rykiel’s star pieces include the “poor boy” sweater – often in black with jewel tone stripes or emblazoned with messages or graphic motifs like oversized red lips – knit tops with embroidered roses and funky, rhinestone-studded berets. She developed new techniques like inside-out stitching and no-hem finishings that embodied the freewheeling spirit of the times.
Rykiel, whose maiden name was Flis, was born in Paris on May 25 1930. She married Sam Rykiel, the owner of a Paris boutique, and had Nathalie at 25.
It was motherhood that put her on the path of fashion design. After designing maternity outfits, she went on to create knit garments for her husband’s boutique, called Laura. By 1970, the fashion trade paper Women’s Wear Daily had dubbed Rykiel the “queen of knitwear”.
Still, early on in her career, Rykiel was wracked by doubts.
“When I started in fashion, for the first 10 years, I said to myself every day, ‘I’m going to quit tomorrow. People are going to figure out that I don’t know anything’,” she told the Le Nouvel Observateur in a 2005 interview. “I always thought I’d be discredited in the end.”
Rykiel is survived by Nathalie and son Jean-Philippe.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
