I started by designing a sweater very close to the body, because I couldn't find any for myself.

I was influenced by the hippie movement in San Francisco and by the feminist movement, which had arrived in Paris.

The key to my collections is sensuality.

I am still taking care of the creation of the collection alongside my staff, and my daughter Nathalie Rykiel, is the artistic director of Sonia Rykiel, who takes care of a lot of things. We are very alike and also very close.

Sometimes in the fashion industry we come across some unfair rules, but no one is obliged to follow them.

I married a man who was in fashion. I began to work when my daughter Nathalie was about eight or 10 years old. Then one day I began to make a sweater, and eventually the sweater was on the front page of Elle magazine. And the day after I was the queen of knit in America.

I love flinging everything I buy behind me onto the back-seat of the car: it's always full of packages when I travel, when I leap in my car!