Sonia Rykiel: A Walk Of Liberation

This March, the House of Sonia Rykiel celebrated its 50 years of creation. Its autumn/winter 2018/19 show was all about symbols. On an ephemeral ramp, smiling women with crimped and fluffed up hair pinned under berets, walked with a rebellion, even as spectators cheered the familiar logo of the brand.

“For this show, I wanted the women to be happy. A nod and wink to the shows done by Sonia and Nathalie Rykiel back in the day. Models do not quite get to laugh and smile together. To mark this milestone, I wanted to emphasise on this joie de vivre that has always been a part of the House, contributing in the creation of the unique language, character and beauty of the brand,” says Julie de Libran, creative director of the House for four years now.

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Soft spoken and precise, she continues, “The brand turns 50 this year. I wanted the celebrations to take forward the legacy that Sonia and Nathalie built, which was to strengthen the voice of women through clothing. I do fashion, not politics, but we all have things we need to say. Just as Sonia had wanted, we put women at the heart of creation.”

As a designer, she thinks it’s important to ponder over her purpose. She is of an opinion that clothing must accompany the life of a woman and give them confidence, not a disguise. Women should feel capable and strong.

“I was fortunate enough to have met Sonia, thanks to Nathalie. We exchanged ideas, she listened to me. She particularly gave me some precious advice, that of knowing when to say no! I think of that every day and try to put it into action. I have been extremely lucky to be a part of this brand, which extolled the Parisian woman. I want to, therefore, create that desire.”

And that same desire is undeniably found in Le Pavé Parisien, the new fun bag of joy with the promise of a beautiful future, and the Manifesto capsule collection that plays on the surrealist letters which are an important part of the brand.

Once upon a time there were barricades

Flashback to May 1968, the first few days of the emancipation of women in France. The streets sang Debout Femmes Esclaves (Rise to your feet, women slaves). At the same time, in Saint-Germain-des-Près, Paris, in the midst of a social and intellectual effervescence, a few metres from the barricades, Sonia Rykiel was opening her new boutique on 6, Rue de Grenelle. Already, in the display window, next to her designs, were stacked books, borrowed from her editor friend, Christian Bourgois. She was breaking down barriers and opening up avenues.

Later in 1975, she would move on to filming her shows and then projecting them on her boutique windows. A first in fashion! For the time being, events were pushing this red-haired designer to reset her clocks and drop her iron shutters when it was time to go protest in the streets. This was a pivotal time in the history of the women’s liberation movement. “Be a realist, demand the impossible” became her motto.

All that she hoped and wished for could become a reality. But, before that would happen, it was important to revisit her plans. “She had certainly never dreamt of closing down her boutique so soon. But, I think at the same time she was rejoicing in what was happening in the world, for women. The rebel inside her could see the story building up,” retells journalist and director Loïc Prigent, who has observed the mother-daughter duo closely during the legendary show on the 40th year of the House, and do a documentary on them titled Le Jour d’avant, Sonia Rykiel.

At the onset, a French newspaper called her the Queen of Knits (la reine du tricot), even as the stars of the time, BB, Catherine Deneuve, ye-ye girls Sylvie and Françoise and Audrey Hepburn lauded her Poor Boy Sweater, which they wore directly over the skin, and for the more coquettish, without a bra.

“She offered a feminist fashion, but without branding it thus. In our real context of the renewed feminism, she is incredibly relevant. It is a brand of the women, for the women. When Nathalie Rykiel, in 2002, then general manager and creative director of the House, brought out sex toys and clothes for Rykiel Women, dedicated to the pleasures a woman is entitled to, it was revolutionary. A statement of freedom, sexual freedom was expressed through the shows. It reiterated that we are women with a sexual life and we do not apologise for it,” Loïc says.

That was also when Sonia officially announced her retirement from the spotlight without entirely leaving the brand. Loïc adds, “The revolutionary thing about Sonia Rykiel was that she was straightforward. She gave the impression of delivering the limits of psychoanalysis on the ramp, moments of truth. What is paradoxical is that she also loved to state that she was a liar. With her, there was always this aspect of playfulness and independence. She would often say, ‘I do what I want’. It was unique and moving. She had an enormous ego, which was again something new for women because an ego was something reserved only for couture. But it was a benevolent ego.”

Author Pauline Klein, who has been Sonia’s most loyal collaborators, says, “I really loved working with Sonia and Nathalie. I was part of the family in a way. Five years is like a lifetime in that world. We never felt judged and were always welcomed. I used to tell her about my romances and she would say, ‘Do you want a piece of parmesan?’ She loved to go off course and take others along as well. She never showed how she felt but her piercing gaze said it all. We talked a lot about love.”

One day, Sonia told Pauline that there was nothing sexier about a woman than having hazelnut at the bottom of one’s pocket and then cracking one open all of a sudden. A real bit of flirtation. She was fatal and childlike. Near her one would feel intelligent and capable. She had this ability to make you believe that you were her favourite employee. “It is true that she was a true narcissist and needed constantly to be reassured about her worth, her beauty. But, she shared everything. She loved men just as much as she did women. The most profound thing about her was perhaps this quiet look that she had around people,” Pauline adds.

State of permanent happiness

In the meantime, another redhead was stirring things up at the Sorbonne, with her fashion that she called unfashionable and a penchant for breaking rules and conventions. She invites women, turning everything upside down, and declares a state of permanent happiness.

It was Sonia’s daughter, Nathalie, who joined the House when she turned 20, constructed, working with her mother, the story of this label. “When my mother decided to turn couture on its head, everyone on the team said that it was not a done thing. To which she simply replied: do not concern yourself with that, just have faith in me.” It was indeed that same strong and powerful instinct that fuelled this fiery woman. “Sonia was a pioneer. She was funny, chic, feminist and gentle. There are always times when we push open doors that are not for us to open,” Nathalie says.

From 1977, Sonia designed a line of clothes for the mail order firm 3 Suisses. With it, she became the first to undertake a collaboration of this sort. Sonia was free, and that same freedom is the defining factor of the House. “I was 30 when I started out in Rykiel. I had a freedom with which I knew not what to do. Sonia taught me how to make that freedom be of service to me. Just like that, without saying anything, she did it by just being herself, with her actions and her rapport with the creation of fashion,” Pauline says. Through her dresses she spoke to women, like the dress was a metaphor, a meditation.

She was sincere in what she said and her work. She was a woman with very few filters. She knew how to play and manipulate and when she did, so she would own it. “She had such an ease in being tender. She was a femme fatale who was not scary,” adds Pauline.

Loïc described her as mad, funny, endearing, literary, fascinating to watch and listen to. “I wanted to protect her. She always wanted me to be informal with her, but I was unable to. She was nuts! Yup, exactly that, just nuts!”

Listening to people who knew her and loved her, it is always what she left them feeling that we realise to what extent, on her passing in August of 2016, she was unique and always true to herself. A woman ahead of her time. True to values that resonate today in the common parlance of women. And who fills, 50 years later, the cards of this Parisian house with joy and a vision for the future.

Julie de Libran concludes with saying that Sonia had a dream that she was unable to realise that of creating a perfume for the House. “Even though certain fragrances have been launched, I hope that one day, I will be able to bring to life the scent that Sonia had in mind.” We would like that too.

From the May 2018 issue of L’Officiel India.