5.16.2009

La Grande Dame


These sorts of events do not take place often in the fashion world.It is a reflection not only on Mme Rykiel's supreme talent as a designer but also of the esteem in which her colleagues hold her. It is hard to imagine why she has been called Coco Rykiel, for Sonia Rykiel is beyond fashion, beyond style and most certainly beyond trend. She possesses what the french describe as a certain "je ne sais quoi": an intangibility; an allure that is impossible to define. Sonial Rykiel is in a class all of her own. She remains an enigma.

At her Spring/Summer show, thirty of the world's top designers including Karl Lagerfeld, Alber Elbaz and Jean Paul Gaultier, presented the house of Rykiel with a special birthday suprise; their own take on the Sonia Rykiel look.

Below are three of my favorite ensembles that really capture that Sonia Rykiel look.
(from left to right = Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Martin Margiela & Jean-Charles de Castelbajac)