Sonia Rykiel

Sonia Rykiel is a French fashion and fragrance brand created by designer and writer Sonia Rykiel (née Flis, 1930-2016). The label was founded in 1968, when she opened her first boutique in Paris after gaining attention for her knitwear and the Poor Boy Sweater, which appeared on the cover of French Elle. Her innovative approach to knitwear and construction, including exposing seams and leaving hems unfinished, led to her being dubbed the "Queen of Knits" by Women’s Wear Daily in 1972.

Fragrances became part of the house’s offer in the late 1970s. In 1978, Sonia Rykiel launched her first perfume, Septième sens (Seventh Sense), marking the start of a line that would grow through the 1980s and 1990s alongside the expansion of the fashion business into menswear, childrenswear and accessories. By the early 1990s, the company reported sales of around $75 million and distribution in 40 countries, illustrating how widely the brand’s fashion and perfumes had spread beyond France.

Later launches such as the 1997 women’s scent Sonia Rykiel by Sonia Rykiel continued the brand’s signature references to knitwear, using bottle designs inspired by sweaters. This fragrance, composed by perfumer Emilie Bevierre-Coppermann, is described in reviews as an amber or oriental style with prominent fruity notes like blackcurrant, passion fruit, pineapple and mandarin over a floral heart and a base of vanilla, tonka bean, patchouli and cedarwood. Across its releases, the brand has often tied visual identity and bottle shapes back to the knitwear heritage that made Sonia Rykiel known in fashion.