Explore Quotes by Sonia Rykiel

A woman who walks well parts crowds - it's something we should all be taught to do.

French women famously take care over their appearance, but this wasn't instilled in me as I grew up. I was taught that beauty comes from different places, from the inside and from the outside.

I don't think I would ever have plastic surgery; there isn't anything I'd want to change.

I came from an intellectual Parisian family. My father was a watchmaker; my mother was a housewife. We discussed politics, art, sculpture - never fashion.

I wasn't interested in fashion originally. Fashion was for other people.

I am a perfectionist. It has always been this way.

I invented a sweater so small, so close to the body, that Women's Wear Daily nicknamed it 'The Poor Boy Sweater' and consecrated me queen of knitwear.

When I started in fashion, for the first 10 years, I said to myself every day, 'I'm going to quit tomorrow.'

I was a tomboy, always fairly eccentric, and convinced I'd grow up to be an actress.

I care a lot about my looks, although I'm not too adventurous. Every day I dress the same way in a kind of 'uniform' of black, although in varying fabrics - it's always black.

1968 was the beginning of the hippie movement in fashion. That movement made fashion change completely. It was not necessary to be always dressed up. You could be dressed the way you wanted - it was absolute freedom.

I don't read e-mails because I hate them.

I wanted women wearing my sweaters to give the impression they were naked. The aim wasn't to impose outfits but to stay as close as possible to women's bodies and their freedom of movement.

I don't know why some women don't wear make-up. Every woman should gild the lily.

People are going to figure out that I don't know anything. I always thought I'd be discredited in the end.

I'm not brave, I'm not fantastic. I'm like any other woman. I'm unhappy. I'm difficult. I'm sad. Am I strong, too? Maybe, but not always. There are days when I don't want to see anyone. The most important thing you learn? You can live with it.

Like Picasso, I go through blue periods, green periods, or grey periods.

Knowing yourself, and learning to love yourself as you are, is the beginning of beauty. I think the most important thing is to show off what's most beautiful about you and to hide what's less beautiful.

My view is that you have to deal with who you are. It's hard work, in a way, but somebody has to do it.

I just can't live without chocolate - I have between two and six pieces every day.

My first conversation of the day is with my daughter, Nathalie. I call her every morning; it is a ritual.