‘I believe in a versatile woman,’ says Julie de Libran, Artistic Director of Sonia Rykiel. ‘I believe in the women of Saint-Germain – I am one of them. In this collection, I wanted to pay homage to the lyricism of everyday life in this Parisian neighbourhood, to the streets so related to Sonia Rykiel herself. It’s about getting dressed and getting out, an easy way of dressing the morning after the night before, from evening to day. It’s about pleasure and leisure, the spirit of joie de vivre in the market and in the street. It’s a celebration of the generations of Rykiel women; the women who made the possibility of our lives today.’
In this collection, there is an idea of Rykiel made for life – in both senses of the phrase. Here, Julie de Libran explores an idea of dressing as an act of everyday liberation and joy, with no hard and fast rules, while at the same time understanding fashion made to keep and treasure. Eschewing disposability and embracing sustainability, de Libran wants her woman to build her wardrobe the way she does the rest of her life – with versatility and responsibility.
Clothes feature both utility and flexibility; hard is made soft; masculine made feminine; function made flourish and vice versa. Here, Rykiel knits and stripes reflect market awnings; hand-crafted macramé knits in leather echo the utility of shopping bags; wrapped, draped and sliced suiting evokes the hastily borrowed, masculine wardrobe; while lingerie and pyjamas are coupled with masculine macs, trenches and trousers for an undone, just out of bed look. Bags too play the street theme, with a new capacious Baltard Basket and the Market Bag made from recycled market canopies.
Above all, joie de vivre is paramount and playfulness exudes from what Julie de Libran calls this ’Sunday Rules’ style of dressing.
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