Sonia Rykiel is now known for her figure-hugging sweaters, but her inspiration came from trying to fund clothing for a much different female form.
She was born in 1930 in Paris, and got her first taste of working in the fashion industry as a dresser for a clothing store in the French capital, aged 17.
She was 32 when she designed her first range of clothes, borne of a frustration that she was unable to find any soft sweaters for pregnant women. Soon afterwards, she was a designer for her husband s company, Laura.
Fame came when one of her inaugural designs, the Poorboy Sweater, made the cover of Elle the fashion magazine, and further notoriety would come as she became the first designer to put seams on the outside of a garment, and also to print words onto her range of jumpers.
Her first boutique opened in 1968 and since then, Rykiel has specialised in designing knitwear, with a tendency towards stylish, flowing garments in soft wools, jersey, angora and mohair.
