Nathalie Rykiel: the next French revolution?

Interview, March, 2005 by Ingrid Sischy

INGRID SISCHY: So, Nathalie, how long have you been involved with Sonia Rykiel, the clothing line started by your mother that you serve as both artistic director and chief executive officer?

NATHALIE RYKIEL: If we include when I started modeling for the company, 29 years or so.

IS: Growing up, did you imagine you would be part of your mother's fashion world?

NR: My father, Sam Rykiel, hated the idea of children working with their parents because he thought they wouldn't prove anything if they did, so the last thing I ever imagined was that I'd work with my mother. Many people don't know that it was my father who had the original boutique--a store called Laura in the 14th Arrondissement--and it was only after he and my mother married that she designed a sweater for his store. He was a real intellectual and not someone who should have been in the fashion business, but once my mother stepped in, the company became successful very quickly.

IS: So how did you come to model?

NR: When I was 20 my father died very suddenly, and three months later my mother asked me to be in her show. If he had been alive, I'm sure I never would have done it. Even so, I did have a little bit of guilt about it.

IS: When did your company role take off?

NR: After several seasons Pierre Berge, who was head of the Federation Francaise de la Couture [the association of French fashion designers], approached my mother and invited her to join the group, which would allow us to show in one of the larger venues. She accepted, so we left our intimate setting and arrived in this huge place with a stage that seated 2,000. But what did we do? We took the same type of models--interesting-looking women, not that tall, not that skinny--only increasing the number from five to 12; we used the same lighting from beginning to end, and we kept the same kind of music. Of course, it was a disaster. Afterwards I said to my mother, "That's it, I'm going to stage the show from now on." And I started to do funny things like have 20 girls move down the runway in slow motion, or have them boxing and bicycling. That was my entry into the business, and I've been doing it ever since.

IS: What I find interesting is that you and your family were always kind of outsiders because you've never followed the formulas. That leads me to your latest store concept, Rykiel Woman, which really veers away from the formulas. I know you've got branches already in Paris, in London, and in Moscow, and that one is set to open in Bendel's here in New York just as this issue hits the stands. What can you tell us about it?

NR: I was thinking about what pleasure means to different women, and by that I mean a sophisticated woman who isn't living in a country at war or fighting to feed her children, but one who has the luxury to think about pleasure. What I arrived at was a place where in addition to finding a cashmere sweater or a pashmina robe or a lovely candle, she could find beautiful lingerie. One of the things that's interesting about this is that my mom became known for creating a tiny sweater, which she suggested women wear without their bra.

IS: That was revolutionary then. Se what is taboo-breaking now?

NR: Well, along with all the luxury items I've mentioned, we're carrying a range of sex toys. Now, why sex toys? Because traditionally they've been associated with something dirty, and if you wanted to purchase one you had to go to places where people look at you in a terrible way. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see if I could change people's perceptions. So I selected a variety of toys with specific details, "undressed" them by getting rid of their vulgar packaging, and placed them in beautiful, rhinestone-studded evening bags in black and pink satin. I said to myself that if Sonia Rykiel is audacious enough to do this, then they're going to be sex toys that actually give pleasure, so the one overriding characteristic they all share is that they work. I also hired very sophisticated, very cool sales girls who are as comfortable with the subject of sex as they are selling a fur jacket or a cashmere sweater. This was very tricky for me to pull off because we're neither a lingerie brand nor a sex shop--we are a luxury fashion brand that's almost 40 years old and has worldwide sales, so I had people in the company that thought I was crazy to do this under the Sonia Rykiel name. Some people were terribly shocked, even saying I was going to ruin everything that my mother had built, so it was tough. At the same time I was preparing my team and the sales girls for what to do in case of a scandal because I was expecting some longtime Rykiel clients to be outraged. But nothing happened.

IS: And since then the whole enterprise has been a success?

NR: Tremendous--from the minute we opened. I think one of the reasons it was so well received goes back to the fact that when my mother started the company, she told women to take off their bras. What's more, hers was the first luxury brand to offer inexpensive clothes in a mail-order catalogue. So Sonia Rykiel has always been connected with the liberation of women, as well as with an attitude that embraced desire, sexiness, provocation, mystery, and humor, but never in a way that was antagonistic towards men. So doing this was in the DNA of the brand.