The pill was the liberation of the spirit of women.
— Sonia Rykiel
My color is black. And black, if it's worn right, is a scandal.
My only ambition was to have 10 children. Fashion was an accident.
Wherever I go, I buy shoes.
I don't think that clothes have anything to do with the personality. That comes from the woman herself.
I don't want to show my pain. I resisted; I hesitated. I tried to be invisible, to pretend that nothing was wrong. It's impossible; it's not like me.
I wanted a maternity dress, but I couldn't find anything I liked. Everything was abominable. So I made one. Then I made a pullover. 'Elle' put it on the cover. Then WWD elected me the Queen of Knitwear.
To be modern is to be aware of what is going on.
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.
Being one step ahead of a fashion trend is not so important to me. What matters is to always forge ahead.
First I made a dress because I was pregnant and I wanted to be the most beautiful pregnant woman. Then I made a sweater because I wanted to have one that wasn't like anyone else's.
I think in the darkest moments, we need a break.
To me, the biggest revolution of the 20th century was the pill.
I have the impression that the women around me are like me - smaller, taller, fatter, thinner - but in fact, we are all the same.
Women often stop me in the street.
I want women to learn to find themselves.
When a woman confuses what she is with what she wears, then something is wrong inside.
I didn't listen to anyone. I was so violent, so authoritarian, only listening to what I wanted and myself.
I was supposed to be a mother like my mother, who didn't work.
What pushes me forward is everything I have learned: political, social, cultural. I put all that into the clothes.
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.
The key to my collections is sensuality.
You have to be luxurious nude. It's difficult to move in the nude in front of a mirror. It's much easier to move when you're dressed. But if you can walk around in the nude easily in front of your man, if you can be luxurious in the nude, then you've really got it.
My shows are about the complete woman who swallows it all. It's a question of survival.
I never played a part in the feminist movement - it touches me, but I am not a militant.
We are working women. Also, we have the problem of children, of men, to take care of our houses, so many things. I try to explain that in my clothes. They are clothes for everyday life. That is the real life of woman.
It is interesting to see what other designers do, and not work in a vacuum.
My fashion has no time, no season. It doesn't go out of style. If someone decides that clothes can go out of fashion, then you are deciding a woman can go out of fashion.
I always believe in pants. You can play with your legs, your attitude, with pants. It's much more funny. It's much more sophisticated. It's much more arrogant, like a man with feminine attitude. I love pants.
Since I didn't know anything, I did everything I wanted.
Fashion should be a kind of bouillon de culture.
My breakfast is very important.
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.
People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed, because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral.
It's useless to send models out on the runway to cry.
