After 41 years, it’s amazing how Sonia Rykiel manages to merge her unchanging aesthetic—soft, body-hugging knits in black with bright spots, floppy hats smashed down on the head, and that very French savoir-faire—with whatever’s current in fashion. So for fall, the black things are turning up appropriately proportioned (trans: short) and layered, with leggings under skirts under bustiers. Rykiel also hit the current idea of the big, soft, fun fur done as a huge bubble of color—in her case, purple knitted fox, or teal-blue Mongolian lamb, cinched in with hip-riding belts. The Rykiel trend summary also includes the biker, in its own way: perhaps as a zippy cream skirt suit, or a leather motorcycle jacket with a huge collar in shearling.
Paris wouldn’t be Paris without Rykiel's traditional finale: dozens of girls lining up on the runway in her signature stripy knits. Fall's editions are tiny off-the-shoulder or tube top and worn with flouncy net tutus. But when the Michael Jackson was cued up, and the girls tried to work up a few awkward dance moves, the upbeat eighties theme took a bad stumble.
