A very young girl, myself, and my 70-year-old mother all look quite different wearing some of the same clothes from my shop. The whole secret is to know how to do it and some people never will, just like some can't make light pastry: they are lacking in some sort of grace.
My breakfast is very important.
I was influenced by the hippie movement in San Francisco and by the feminist movement, which had arrived in Paris.
I can't go any place without going to museums. It's very important for me.
I can be negatively criticised, but this is actually a positive thing, especially if the critic is smart, and helpful. I am very attentive to critics, they let me go ahead and push myself harder to continue.
When I was a kid, all I liked were books and chocolate.
I am still taking care of the creation of the collection alongside my staff, and my daughter Nathalie Rykiel, is the artistic director of Sonia Rykiel, who takes care of a lot of things. We are very alike and also very close.
After all these years of creating my collections, I still doubt my decision even until the last minute before the fashion show, I keep questioning myself and wondering if I did the right thing.
I did not plan to have such a career in the fashion world. All that I wanted, was to have ten kids and raise them!
It was by coincidence that I ended up opening my first shop in 1968, and I haven't stopped since. I now find myself trying to do everything. I couldn't live without creating my collections, without writing, drawing and reading. But I couldn't either live without being close to my children on a daily basis and also to my grandchildren, and to all the people I love. I guess I am like every woman today, one who juggles her work and family life.
My husband had a clothing store in Paris, and I had his factory make specifically for me something similar to the one I was looking for. We made it in different colours, and decided to sell them in the store...and in a day, they were sold out! This sweater became later known as the "poor boy sweater" and it ended up making the cover of Elle magazine, and in a day, I became the "Queen of knit", without knowing anything about knitting!
I started by designing a sweater very close to the body, because I couldn't find any for myself.
You know, the more grown-up you are, the more you like Proust.
The knitted jumper comes in different trends, colours, shapes, and is adaptable in various ways when wearing. But there are also different noticeable marks of Sonia Rykiel brand, like black stripes which are very recognisable too.
In the same way, I can wake up with a very positive idea of what I want to do for my collection, and be completely desperate at night regarding the same thing. And I do a lot of other things too: Writing for me is almost as important as drawing my collection.
My parents never mentioned anything about fashion in our household, instead we used to talk about literature, theatre, and arts...this is why I have kept a real relation with the Art world, by putting books from the beginning in my shops' windows.
The fashion industry can in a certain way be very hard and closed.
We are not saying that all women should be thin like these very thin and young girls. We are creating a show, with its artistic codes and rules, and we have to try not to mix up all the codes together.
[Nathalie Rykiel] knows by heart the genetic codes of the brand, and she also has a very contemporary and creative opinions about it.
I love flinging everything I buy behind me onto the back-seat of the car: it's always full of packages when I travel, when I leap in my car!
I love to leave, to be ready-for, to be on the run! That's my boyish side, it's the pant's me! Pants which allow for the attitudes, gestures and movements of a man but that are still female in taste and free enough so that I can slip my hands inside!
I'm not at all interested in doing clothes for movies or stage, in stage dressing or costuming. Nor can I design lingerie, for I never wear any! At one time I used to wear a lot of lingerie but now I'm in a mood of total nudity!
Even if I'm in Japan and I don't speak Japanese and the woman facing me doesn't speak French but she's dressed in Rykiel, and she recognizes me, then we have a common language right away.
I love chocolate. Black chocolate with marshmallow inside, caramel inside. If I could only have two foods, I'd take some fantastic chocolate. And some terrible chocolate. I love the Clark Bar.
