On a bright yellow runway Sonia Rykiel’s daughter, Nathalie Rykiel, and recently appointed creative director, April Crichton, showed a collection of 70s-inspired shapes and shades. While Spring 2012 may not have been as coquettish and flirty – or upbeat for that matter – as some of Rykiel’s die-hard fans may have wished, the collection was full of the striped knits, culottes, pleated skirts, printed sundresses, and masculine-inspired pant suits that have made Rykiel so popular with Parisian gamine-look loving women. The one major disappointment? There weren’t enough smiling models, usually a given at a Rykiel show, this season.
