Sonia Rykiel launched her label on Paris’s Left Bank 50 years ago, just at the moment that prêt-à-porter was emerging as a category. Today, to mark its half century, Julie de Libran presented the first Sonia Rykiel couture collection. There’s a strange irony in that, but De Libran managed to retain both the joie de vivre that is so central to the Rykiel identity, and the sense of liberated female independence that the house founder symbolized. This was not a collection of the sort of cantilevered gowns that couture still has a reputation for all these decades on. The Rykiel models were shirt- and braless under their tuxedo jackets.
De Libran approached the debut by considering the house “inventory,” as she called it, though this didn’t feel like a nostalgic exercise. Rykiel is famous for her striped Marinière sweaters—and of course there was one of those here, hand-beaded, oversize, and sloping off the shoulder. But as De Libran pointed out, Rykiel’s repertoire was vast. “I don’t feel stuck in one category.” Proving her point, she reimagined the signature velour joggings in embroidered tulle and paired them with a feathery jumper for an evening look that retained some of the ease of athleisure. Rykiel’s giant chubbie, meanwhile, was re-created using only yarn in a modern nod to the changing values around the use of fur. And there was more playful thinking around knitwear, including Georgia May Jagger’s little black sweaterdress with a trompe l’oeil bikini embroidered on it.
“We have an amazing atelier here,” De Libran said. “It’s wonderful to be able show off the savoir faire of the house.” Most impressive were the tuxedos, which, sans shirts or underpinnings, conveyed a confident sensuality, abetted by the fact that models like Kirsten Owen and Malgosia Bela were enlisted to wear them. Tweaking couture conventions, De Libran sent out her bride in a front-lacing corset dress, feathered knit veil, and blue jeans. Each pair the house makes will be numbered on a back pocket one to 50. Otherwise, Rykiel will operate much like established couture houses, and make just one of each piece shown on the runway today. De Libran is taking customer appointments herself on the newly redesigned first floor of the iconic Rykiel store on Boulevard St. Germain. If it goes well, which it should, she said she’d like to be back on the couture schedule in January.
