Sonia Rykiel has come up with a new line called Modern Vintage that includes a half-dozen favorite designs from years past, sometimes reproduced in modern fabrics or different colors. Prices run from 230 euro for a wool-and-cashmere 1980s pencil skirt to 690 euro for a cache-coeur cashmere sweater from 1982. By tweaking the designs, says Rykiel’s daughter, Nathalie, creative director of the company, the old styles are “more of the moment.”
The Italian fashion houses of Pucci and Missoni have begun incorporating some of their classic vibrant patterns in clothing again. And Valentino has taken the trend one step further. He’s reissuing a handful of vintage designs with witty prints such as dragons, Aztec zigzags and leopard spots, then carrying on the pattern in new accessories such as boots, evening clutches, even T shirts. Prices range from 55 euro for the small plastic shopping tote to 1,250 euro for vintage handbags. The idea, says Valentino, is “to use the strength of our 40 years of archived patterns and reoffer them for today. So we have the past, the present and we’re looking toward the future.”
