She always wears black. Including her eyeshadow-which is smudged on her upper and lower lids. Calls Paris her home. Was dubbed one of the 10 most elegant women in the world.
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She has written a couple of books-including a naughty one. She has boutiques around the world (you can find one on Oak Street) bearing her name. She’s a redhead, adores chocolate and was recently in town to be feted by the Chicago Historical Society.
Tell her you don’t want to talk about clothes-at all-and what does designer Sonia Rykiel say?
“C’est fantastique!”
– On food: I love chocolate. Black chocolate with marshmallow inside, caramel inside. If I could only have two foods, I’d take some fantastic chocolate. And some terrible chocolate. I love the Clark Bar. (Jumps up, runs into the other room and comes back bearing a “book” entitled: “My Private Passion.” Opens the “book” to reveal: a dozen or so mini Clark Bars.) And bread. Many kinds of bread. Rye, sesame, wheat, things with nuts inside.
– And if she were on that desert island and could take only two people: It’s impossible. I’d take my two children. No question about that. But I’d cry because I have the man I live with. And another one. I can’t live without my family. I need my sister, too. They’re my food.
– On hotel living: In Paris, I love Le Triomphe. In New York, the St. Regis. There, I’m like a heroine in a novel, I get the impression I am Scarlett (O’Hara). At hotels, you are an actress. Absolutely. You can do what you want. Go where you want. I love my home too. But I love to arrive in a hotel. They have books, chocolate, food. I put things in the little refrigerator.
– On waking up and deciding who makes breakfast: I wake up at 7. If the man I live with is not awake, I say, “Please, can you make me breakfast?” And he says, “Five minutes.” So I go make breakfast. My breakfast is very important. Then I go back to bed-to work until 9:30. If he’s still in the bed when I get back, I’m so angry! I make a lot of noise to wake him up. I throw things around. I need my bed to work.
– On fame and being Sonia: One day, I was with my son in a park in Paris. He was 12, and he was rollerskating. A man came up to me and said, “Are you Sonia Rykiel?” and I said, “No, no, no, I’m not.” And my son said, “Why? Why did you say that? You have to say who you are.” And I had a lesson. I am what I am. Before I was not so proud to make fashion. My family thought fashion wasn’t very interesting. So I hid that. I said, “Yes, I make dresses, but I also write.” But now I know to make dresses and to write is the same discipline.