Few designers--or artists in general--are successful in combining whimsy, evocative memory, and true integrity in the way that Sonia Rykiel does.
Her decades of design at once evoke the sweet wondrousness of Madeline from the 1940's, the enfant terribles of the 50's and 60's, and the fashionable young-young things running around Paris now in stripes and stars (I am specifically referring to the pre-adolescent set, who happen to be tragically stylish). A good friend of mine, Kelly, always talks about how she was toted around to parties in Chicago with her mom wearing head-to-toe Rykiel as a five year old, and it is one of those Eloise-like images that I will always have of her.
I was thinking about how Sonia Rykiel is one of those designers that i will buy ANY garment from if i came across it pillaging a vintage store. My absolute favorite blazer, the one that I literally have to fly with for fear that the airline will lose my bags, is hers--i shortened it from knee length to hip length and it is divine, with gold buttons, slightly puffed shoulders, perfection with every seam. Costumey, evocative, but so tremendously practical.
Veering into even more sentimental territory of my fascination, last year i stayed at a friend's apartment off of rue des Saint-Peres, directly across from her flagship store on St. Germaine. At night we opened champagne, blasted music, and danced by the little iron railings across from her musing mannequins. Divine.
Witness the dancing:
I guess what brought on this post were some test polaroids we took this past weekend (I stood in just for scouting and light) that reminded me a bit of her most recent ad campaigns. And also, a lot of what i tried to do with the clothes, and the feeling, are influenced by the audacity of someone like Sonia's imagination and everything just feeling perfectly in its right place, even when it's logically not.
