Sonia Rykiel

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Sonia Rykiel (2009)

Sonia Rykiel (born May 25, 1930 in Paris ; † August 25, 2016 there ) was a French fashion designer . She was also called the "Queen of Knitwear " because she was able to successfully market her high-priced knitwear collections in the Parisian fashion world from the 1970s. Her fashionable trademark was , among other things, stripes in her knitted clothes.

The fashion brand Sonia Rykiel , founded by Rykiel in 1968, had its headquarters in Paris as Sonia Rykiel CDM SA with women's and girls' clothing, at times also men's fashion, accessories and perfume and cosmetics and was privately owned as a family company until 2012 . In February 2012, the Chinese investment firm Fung Brands from Hong Kong took over 80 percent of the Sonia Rykiel company ; in 2016 the remaining 20 percent. The company filed for bankruptcy in April 2019 and was liquidated in July 2019.

life and work

Sonia Flis, the daughter of a Jewish Russian and a Jewish Romanian , first worked as a window dresser in her father's shop and in 1953 married Samuel "Sam" Rykiel († 1975), the owner of a Parisian fashion boutique called Laura . During her pregnancy with her son Jean-Philippe (* 1961, blind musician and composer ), Sonia Rykiel discovered that there was no suitable maternity wear, such as sweaters , that were soft and elastic for her. With the help of the Italian business contacts of her husband, from whom she divorced a few years later , she therefore designed her own knitwear collection in 1962 - initially for maternity wear - without formal training , and sold it in the Laura boutique . This collection was so successful that it opened its first Parisian boutique in 1968 in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district on Rue de Grenelle. The fashion magazine ELLE showed one of their models from the shop window on the front page and the American fashion magazine Womens's Wear Daily named her in 1972 the “Queen of Knits” like Adrienne Vittadini in the USA.

In the 1970s, Rykiel created her corporate empire . In 1974, the seams of her fashionable designs - a novelty in the industry - could be seen from the outside. The first prominent Rykiel customers included Brigitte Bardot , Catherine Deneuve and Audrey Hepburn . In 1977 Rykiel designed ready-to- wear prêt-à-porters for catalog mail order 3 Suisses (today: 3 Suisses International ). His friend Karl Lagerfeld took on a Rykiel fashion show on film back in 1979. In 1978 Rykiel released her first fragrance , 7e Sens (no longer available). Over the years, numerous other fragrance compositions followed, such as L'Eau de Sonia Rykiel (1998) or Rykiel Homme (1999). In 1987, the first cosmetics appeared in Japan under her name.

Rykiel's personal trademark was her brushed red hair. Their fashion was u. a. known for the use of striped stripes in bright colors or black and white, for the use of rhinestones or lace , for the color black and for knitted sweaters made of cashmere wool with capitalized messages , which sometimes also functioned as a dress .

Rykiel's daughter Nathalie (* 1955) initially worked for the company as a model in 1975 , then ran the fashion shows and in 1983 created the company's children's collection. In 1982, Simon Burstein, heir to Brown's British fashion empire , joined Sonia Rykiel as a manager and married Nathalie in the mid-1980s. In 1995 Nathalie became managing director and creative director. Nathalie divorced Simon Burstein in early 2007, who then left the company. Since 2007, Nathalie has been the CEO and successor to her mother, who was made Honorary Chairman and continued to be integrated into the design process. Sonia Rykiel was also active as a writer, furnished hotels and sang. Even a rose (Rosa generosa Sonia Rykiel) is named after her. She was friends with Andy Warhol , who considered her his muse in the 1980s , made a film about her and made a portrait of her in 1985. She kept a mild form of Parkinson's disease diagnosed in 1997 by Rykiel a secret for 15 years, initially even from her family, and only went public with a book ( N'oubliez pas que je joue, 2012) about it in 2012.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the house, 30 world-famous designers - including Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel , Christian Lacroix , Ralph Lauren , Martin Margiela and Alber Elbaz for Jeanne Lanvin - created typical Rykiel-style outfits as an homage to Sonia Rykiel. The models were presented as a surprise for Sonia Rykiel at the end of the birthday gala in 2008 organized by her daughter Nathalie. In December 2009, Rykiel launched a low-priced lingerie collection in cooperation with H&M , which was expanded in February 2010 to include a knitwear collection for women and girls.

The Rykiel house includes the women's collections Sonia Rykiel (main line, since 1968) and Sonia by Sonia Rykiel (second line, since 1989, until 1999: Inscription Rykiel ). There is also a children's collection for girls (since 1984), Rykiel Enfant , and a shoe and accessories collection. Sonia Rykiel Eyewear with prescription frames and sunglasses as well as Sonia Rykiel Maison for home accessories and interior furnishings are offered as licensed products . The Rykiel Homme men's collection , which was launched in 1990 on Burstein's initiative, was discontinued after 18 years for the 2009 summer collection on the grounds that it only generated 5 percent of total sales and that the company wanted to concentrate on its core business, women's fashion. After Sonia Rykiel's partial retirement as chief designer in the mid-1990s, her daughter Nathalie took over this task in constant consultation with her mother and supported by a design team. From the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2009, the Munich designer Gabrielle Greiss, who had worked for Sonia Rykiel since 2002, held the post of chief designer. At the end of 2011, April Crichton from Scotland , who has been working for Sonia Rykiel since 1990, was hired as creative director and subsequently appeared on the catwalk with Nathalie Rykiel at the end of the fashion shows. In 2012, the Canadian Geraldo de Conceicao, a former Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent designer, was hired as chief designer at Rykiel. In May 2014, this was replaced by Julie de Libran, who had already gained experience at Louis Vuitton and Prada . De Libran left the company in April 2019.

The Rykiel house was 100 percent privately owned until the beginning of 2012. In February 2012, the Chinese Fung Brands Group, founded in 2011, which also includes the fashion brands Hardy Amies (clothing), Robert Clergerie (shoes) and Delvaux (leather goods), took over 80 percent of the shares in Sonia Rykiel. The remaining 20 percent remained in the possession of the Rykiel family. Rykiel began looking for a financial partner in mid-2011 as part of its expansion plans , but also due to falling sales. Fung Brands belongs to the Fung family, which also owns the Li & Fung trading group founded in 1906, which, for example , bought Cerruti in 2011 . Nathalie Rykiel became Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors . In 2016, Fung Brands bought the remaining 20 percent of the Sonia Rykiel company and transferred the brand to the newly established investment division First Heritage Brands . Shortly thereafter, about a third of Rykiel employees were laid off; 150 positions were retained. The number of own shops was gradually reduced from 30 to ten. In 2018, sales were only 35 million euros with an annual loss of 30 million euros. At the end of April 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy . First Heritage Brands had previously tried to sell the loss-making fashion brand. After the deadline for submitting takeover bids was postponed three times, the Paris Commercial Court ruled on July 25, 2019 that Sonia Rykiel would be liquidated with immediate effect.

Sonia Rykiel's headquarters and flagship store have been located at 175 Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris since 2008 . Annual sales in 2010, including the perfume license, were 90 million euros, more than 10 million euros less than in the previous year. The company supplies specialist dealers in 30 countries; the export share in 2010 was around 45 percent. In 2010 around 350 people were employed; in the previous year there were around 400. In 2012 there were around 20 Sonia Rykiel boutiques in France (with shops-in-shop), around 15 in the rest of Europe (none in German-speaking countries), Russia and the Middle East , one in Boston as well as numerous in Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan . As part of the liquidation of the company, all remaining Sonia Rykiel stores were closed in summer 2019.

Sonia Rykiel died at the age of 86. The burial place is on the Cimetière Montparnasse (2nd Div.) In her hometown Paris. On September 29, 2018, a memorial park in honor of Sonia Rykiel ("Allée Sonia Rykiel") was inaugurated on the occasion of the 50th birthday of the house in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district in the 6th arrondissement of Paris on Boulevard Raspail.

Functions

From 1973 to 1993 Sonia Rykiel was Vice President of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt à Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode .

Awards

Web links

Commons : Sonia Rykiel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sonia Rykiel est morte: la grande couturière est décédée à l'âge de 86 ans , huffingtonpost.fr, August 25, 2016, accessed on August 25, 2016
  2. ↑ Chinese company takes over Sonia Rykiel , handelsblatt.com, February 20, 2012.
  3. ^ Sonia Rykiel Seeks Bankruptcy Protection in France, Liquidates in the US. April 30, 2019, Retrieved August 21, 2019 (UK English).
  4. ↑ Faute de repreneurs, la maison Sonia Rykiel est mise en liquidation judiciaire . July 25, 2019 ( lemonde.fr [accessed August 21, 2019]).
  5. ↑ imdb.com (Engl.) Biography for Sonia Rykiel , accessed: October 24, 2010.
  6. ↑ lesoir.be (French), Rykiel et Rykiel , October 1, 2005.
  7. ↑ brigitte.de, Sonia Rykiel - A very own scam (2) , 2009.
  8. ↑ Tribune de Genève (French), Nathalie Rykiel fière de ses créations , December 3, 2009.
  9. ↑ Liberation (French), L'impératrice rousse , December 4, 2008.
  10. ^ WWD, Q&A: Sonia Rykiel , October 1, 2008.
  11. ↑ Ingrid Loschek : Rykiel, Sonia . In: dies .: fashion designer. A lexicon from Armani to Yamamoto , 3rd edition, CH Beck, Munich 2007, p. 186, ISBN 978-3-406-56492-5 .
  12. ↑ parisvoice.com, Sonia Rykiel, The Paris Exhibition , spring 2009.
  13. ↑ a b Sonia Rykiel: 'I could no longer keep my illness secret' , guardian.co.uk, August 5, 2012.
  14. ↑ Textilwirtschaft, Die Erbin  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 2, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  15. ↑ brigitte.de, Sonia Rykiel - A very own scam (3) , 2009.
  16. ↑ worntrhough.com (English) Two Exhibitions in France , July 30, 2008.
  17. ↑ Geraldo da Conceicao comes on board , gala.de, September 21, 2012.
  18. ↑ Fung Brands participates in Sonia Rykiel ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , fashionunited.de, February 21, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fashionunited.de
  19. ↑ Red Sonia becomes Chinese , sueddeutsche.de, January 27, 2012.
  20. ↑ Faute de repreneurs, la maison Sonia Rykiel est mise en liquidation judiciaire . July 25, 2019 ( lemonde.fr [accessed August 21, 2019]).
  21. ↑ Prêt-à-porter: la maison Sonia Rykiel liquidée. July 25, 2019, accessed August 27, 2019 .
  22. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Sonia Rykiel
  23. ↑ Madame Figaro: Sonia Rykiel, une allée parisienne. September 30, 2018, accessed August 27, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Ingrid Loschek, ibid.
personal data
SURNAME Rykiel, Sonia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Queen of the rope
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 2016
Place of death Paris