Sonia Rykiel's Tribute

Sonia Rykiel died bequeathing her Parisian Rive Gauche chic, sexy, casual attitude, emblem of a free woman.

Stop hiding the belly, stop with narrow waist, broad shoulders and constraints. She understands and affirms with simplicity and power that is the woman to animate the dress and not vice versa. She gives dignity to the tricot, creating a sexy pullover designed to be worn on bare skin, emphasises pants and warm colours, when skirts and soft tones are cool.

She experiments with edges and sharp cuts, dresses and reversible jackets, XXL silhouettes and decomposes the coat before Helmut Lang did it in the Nineties, creates t-shirts and sweaters with inscriptions and slogans such as "mode" or "amour" and grasped the potential of mass distribution in 1977, by signing a collection for the fashion catalogue of 3 Suisses. She invents sweatshirts without shoulders, quilted jackets, interior clothes that looked like outdoor ones.

Madame Rykiel combines androgyny and femininity, giving women the freedom of movement and expression, but also a versatile and iconic wardrobe that has as key pieces soft sweaters, men's pants, ruffles, multicoloured stripes, rhinestones, beret or cloche.

Here are 5 things you might not know about the French designer.

#1 From maternity to the fashion industry

In 1962 Sonia is pregnant and doesn’t find anything she likes to wear. So she creates her own simple and comfortable garments and then starts selling them in her husband’s boutique, until the opening of her first store on rue de Grenelle in 1967, in the district of Saint Germain des Près, gathering intellectuals and artists, followed by the one on the Left Bank. It's the beginning of a love affair with the world of fashion that will last for more than 40 years.

She only wanted comfortable and cute clothes to wear while pregnant with her second child, and ended up creating a brand with more than 600 stores worldwide with luxury lines, ready to wear, children and home.

#2 The Queen of Knits

Before her, wool is considered a coarse fabric, used to make comfortable garments, but without appeal. Madame Rykiel elevates it, turning it into a valuable raw material, capable of giving freedom of movement to the body, but also style through the use of colours and designs, embroidery, ruffles, rhinestones. Her cult piece, what will lead her to obtain the title of "Queen of knits", is a small, tight-fitting striped pullover, which British newspapers will call "poor-boy sweater". Sonia’s creation ends up on the cover of Elle, worn by a 19-year-old Françoise Hardy, becoming a symbol of freedom and seduction, a pioneer of sophisticated and rebellious style. Women, including Audrey Hepburn, Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot and Lauren Bacall, fall in love with it.

#3 Call it "demodé"

Stop total looks. Stop limits of age. Fashion should serve the female body and not vice versa.

Every woman should be free to create her own wardrobe, freely celebrating her shapes with soft dresses, easy to wear, feminine. That’s why she creates knitted jerseys, jersey dresses that cling to the body wearing no bra, on bare skin. To prove that fashion is démodé, she shows on the catwalk her creations together with those of other designers, mixing them as happens in everyday life.

#4 Shiny happy models

French President Hollande said, recalling the designer: "She has invented not only a fashion, but also an attitude, a way of living and being, and has given freedom of movement to women”. Natural and shiny are also the models walking on Rykiel's catwalk. Her girls smile, walk hand in hand, joke, dance, chat, have fun, they move as a group of friends.

#5 Warhol's muse

"I think he was in love with my hair. I sat for hours, and he snapped hundreds of Polaroids"  Sonia Rykiel declared in 2010, talking about her relationship with Andy Warhol. Her iconic image, untouched by time, her red hair with a pyramidal cut, the thread-like silhouette, the thin dark eyes made Sonia a perfect pop icon. In 2008, for the 40^th anniversary of her brand, designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Martin Margiela, Riccardo Tisci and Karl Lagerfeld created a look inspired by her and her fashion.