Sonia Rykiel: Une Femme Française

Géraldine Dormoy from CaféMode gives Dazed Digital an insight to the exhibition:

Thank god French fashion is not limited to Couture with a capital C. It also has less pretentious practitioners. Sonia Rykiel is one of them – and by no means the least important. She has a connection with reality that some haute couturiers tend to forego. They’re too busy trying to turn their fantasies into cloth. Sonia’s dresses are not artefacts, even when they’re exhibited in the glass cases of a museum. They’re cut for movement. In other words, they’re built for life.

I was delighted to pay a visit to the new Sonia Rykiel exhibition curated by Olivier Saillard, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris which opens to the public today. It was firstly a good opportunity to immerse myself in the 70s, my favourite fashion era, with its misty light and wallpaper patterns, billowing sleeves and risky brown and orange shades and secondly the show also reminded me that ultimately fashion can be breezy and optimistic. With her festive runway shows, her mischievous jumpers, her vivid colours and her addiction to rhinestones, Sonia takes a little girl’s delight in dressing (us) up.

It started with a sweater. In 1962, when her then husband Sam Rykiel was running a Paris boutique, Sonia had a vision of the perfect knitwear garment. After lengthy discussions with Italian manufacturers, she obtained exactly what she wanted: a figure-hugging sweater with the sleeves cut so high that its proportions became original and sporty. The result was so flattering that every customer wanted one. Simple, wearable dresses followed. Six years later, Rykiel’s collections were so successful that she was able to open her own boutique in Saint Germain.

Beyond the cloth, what Rykiel suggests is an attitude; a certain nonchalance. The use of soft fabrics like jersey and chiffon allows for freer movement, the un-tucked hemline lightens the silhouette, the low pockets encourage a slouchy, challenging posture. Every outfit is comfortable – but worn with heels, s’il vous plait.

Upstairs, I admire the wonderful photography of Dominique Issermann, whose 15-year collaboration with Rykiel helped to anchor the identity of the brand. Then I hear someone talking behind me. It’s Sonia, a pale face in a black dress, huddled in a black armchair as she quietly answers questions from a journalist. The hair is still combatively red. “The Rykiel woman is the woman of the French revolution,” she says. The 1968 revolution, naturally. Her voice is impressively steady, even when she jokes that she should stop talking before she loses her train of thought. Nobody is buying that, but they don’t insist. Her daughter Nathalie is by her side. The story can go on.

Sonia Rykiel, Exhibition, From November 20th 2008 to April 19th 2009 Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 107, rue de Rivoli
75001 Paris.