Sonia Rykiel went into fashion to create garments she wanted for herself but could not find anywhere. She was never trained as a designer, but she had an incredible eye for style and detail.

In the early 1960's, she convinced a company to make bump revealing maternity clothing for her husband’s family-owned boutique in Paris. From there she found Italian machine-knitwear companies that would make sweaters modified from ones she owned to make them smaller, with a higher armhole and tighter sleeves. That is how the prototype for the now iconic Sonia Rykiel "Poor boy sweater" was born. The skinny-ribbed, striped sweater was seen in a boutique by someone who worked at Elle magazine and within a few weeks, Françoise Hardy was wearing it on the magazine’s cover. Celebrities like Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn bought several of the sweaters.

Rykiel's clothes were a representation of who she was, sensual, witty, and always original. Long before the Japanese became known for it, she was designing pieces with unfinished hemlines and exposed seams. Her pieces changed only slightly from season to season as they were meant to be timeless as opposed to trendy.

Perhaps our favorite fact about Sonia Rykiel is that she was a huge supporter of one of our favorites, Patrick Kelly. She passionately lobbied to have him admitted into the Chambre syndicale du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode.