Although award season nominations aren’t yet under way, Sonia Rykiel is already thinking ahead. The Parisian brand’s artistic director Julie de Libran gathered friends including Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst for a low-key affair at the Chateau Marmont on Thursday night to celebrate the label’s one-of-a-kind collection for the forthcoming 2018 festivities.
“I wanted to gather all my friends and people that inspire me,” said de Libran, who began working with the brand in 2014. “I grew up in California. This feels like home. This is where I stay when I come and visit. The energy is natural.” De Libran said they assembled the group because “they’re talented, creative, beautiful, smart, passionate and active. That is the Sonia Rykiel woman.”
Sonia Rykiel’s granddaughter, Lola Rykiel, added to the party’s laid-back, friends-and-family vibe. Rykiel walked around capturing details for the heritage brand’s Instagram account. After all, it’s in her nature; Rykiel runs Le Chocolat Noir, a public relations and consulting firm in New York of which Sonia Rykiel is a client.
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The “award season” pieces, created in Sonia Rykiel’s Paris atelier, will be unveiled at various events in the new year. Asked to describe the collection, de Libran said, “It’s for a strong woman that knows what she likes and what she wants and can have a certain confidence when she puts it on because it doesn’t overdress her. It makes her feel even stronger and more beautiful.”
Leslie Fremar, Elizabeth Stewart and The Elkin sisters, Brit and Kara, represented the stylist set while actresses, models and artists included Annabelle Wallis, Brooklyn Sudano, Jaclyn Smith, Langley Fox, Juliette Seydoux and Say Lou Lou.
Wallis admitted she already has 2018 on her mind. “You always have to think ahead,” she said. “Award season is a wonderful time to celebrate film, and fashion is very much parcel with what we do in cinema. This is one of the brands I’m very excited to indulge in. I have a few films coming out next year. I’ve seen their collection and I know that I’ll be coming back for more.”
Wallis appreciates that the brand “mirrors old-world Parisian glamour and modern-day glamour. That’s what Sonia Rykiel is for me. She was so iconic in creating such a modern look, but now the brand has been around so long that it’s become a modern classic. With this new energy behind it, it’s a nice brand to celebrate.”
The actress, who stars in next year’s comedy “Tag” with Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner, said she likes “to look glam, but kind of be disheveled.” She said she chose her delicate Rykiel dress for its silhouette, cut and texture.
“Is that Sonia Rykiel as well?” Wallis’s former “The Mummy” costar and good friend Sofia Boutella asked a guest. “The velvet is really in right now.” Boutella opted for an edgy black ensemble herself. “I like that it’s very feminine even though it’s a suit,” she said. The actress had never worn the brand before, but noted that “all the pieces are gorgeous.”
Over a family-style dinner of Hamachi crudo, Dover sole, and chicken paillard, Boutella caught up with pals. “Annabelle and I were together yesterday, actually. We were in this bungalow. We went to see a movie together and then we came here afterwards.”