http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/fashion/paris-fashion-week-sonia-rykiel.html 2016-10-03 15:39:57 Remembering Sonia Rykiel, in Fashion’s Own Words As the French designer’s house prepares its first runway show since her death, former models, editors and retailers recall her style. === PARIS — A little more than a month ago, Ms. Rykiel retired several years ago, after a 40th anniversary year capped by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy “Most of all, I remember her. She was a very special lady. She was very funny, very gentle and very kind with the models. I remember having lovely afternoons at Sonia’s, trying on the clothes. The shows were like a girlie moment — there was nothing sacred about it. She liked a woman that would move, she liked a woman that would work, she liked a woman that would take care of her kids. She was a very modern woman. She was one of the first designers that would give freedom to the woman — with the stretchy sweaters, you could do anything. You could go to a cocktail party with the same outfit, just by putting on earrings or some other pair of shoes.” Carine Roitfeld “Years ago, I did some advertising campaigns for her with Mario Testino. It was at the same time we were working for Gucci, so more than 15 years ago. When you spend some years working with her, she was more crazy than anyone else — I mean crazy in the good way! More fun, more spirited. She was great, Sonia; she was a genius person, very charismatic. And I know Lola in New York — she may be the next spirit of the family.” Virginie Mouzat “She was one of the rare fashion designers with whom you could have a talk about literature. She was an avid reader, a writer and also a lover of publishing. It’s very St.-Germain-des-Prés, very Rive Gauche. I love the way she literally weaved together words and fashion, ideas and fashion — the two things together made the whole thing, and the woman, the founder, unique. She was doing this while being extremely feminine at the same time. From the outside, you could think that it doesn’t go together, but it went together, intimately. It made this woman even more sexy — even though sexy doesn’t naturally match with her. It’s more complicated than that. It was all about seduction: intellectual seduction and also physical seduction. A magic combination.” Laura Brown “When I was 14 years old, in 1988, Australia celebrated its bicentennial. There was a Sarah Andelman “Hers were always the shows where, at the end, the models loved it, they laughed, they would run — it’s full of life. It’s so Parisian. I remember