Top image: from www.soniarykiel.com

French fashion designer Sonia Rykiel has died at the age of 86 after a 15-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

The designer’s daughter, Nathalie Rykiel (now managing and artistic director of the Sonia Rykiel fashion label) said, “My mother died at 05:00 this morning at her home in Paris from the effects of Parkinson’s.”

Nicknamed the Queen of Knitwear, Rykiel became an established name on the Parisian fashion scene when she opened her eponymous store in 1968 on Paris’s Left Bank, attracting clients such as Catherine Deneuve and Audrey Hepburn. Instantly recognisable by her triangle of red hair, the designer become synonymous with striped knitwear – in particular her shrunken 1962 “poor-boy” sweater (long sleeves and a fitted shape) which became an iconic piece of 60s fashion.

In 2009, she was awarded The Order of Légion d’Honneur in recognition of her 40 years of service in the French fashion industry, with French President Francois Hollande praising her as “a pioneer.”

According to her website, “Sonia Rykiel urged women to be eccentric, seductive, mysterious, and to create their own style. She arrived (in every sense of the word) on Paris’ Left Bank in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1968. The neighborhood was a haven to artists from the world over and she quickly became its heart.”