Sonia Rykiel

St-Germain & Les Invalides


In the heady days of May 1968 amid Paris’ student uprisings, Sonia Rykiel opened her inaugural Left Bank boutique here, and went on to revolutionise garments with inverted seams, ‘no hems’ and ‘no lining’. Her diffusion labels (including children’s wear) are housed in separate boutiques nearby, with seven in total around Paris. Her store design is always sensational.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby St-Germain & Les Invalides attractions

1. Église St-Germain des Prés

0.15 MILES

Paris’ oldest standing church, the Romanesque St Germanus of the Fields, was built in the 11th century on the site of a 6th-century abbey and was the main…

3. Musée National Eugène Delacroix

0.23 MILES

In a courtyard off a tree-shaded square, this museum is housed in the romantic artist’s home and studio at the time of his death in 1863. It contains a…

4. Musée Maillol

0.26 MILES

Located in the stunning 18th-century Hôtel Bouchardon, this splendid little museum focuses on the work of sculptor Aristide Maillol (1861–1944), whose…

5. Église St-Sulpice

0.29 MILES

In 1646 work started on the twin-towered Church of St Sulpicius, lined inside with 21 side chapels, and it took six architects 150 years to finish. It's…

6. Le Bateau Ivre

0.33 MILES

Arthur Rimbaud's 1871 poem Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat), depicting a fantastical and frightening sea voyage of a sinking boat from the first-person…

7. Académie Française

0.35 MILES

The French language and all its nuance are guarded with care by 40 Immortels (Immortals) of the French Academy, founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635. The…

8. Bibliothèque Mazarine

0.36 MILES

Within the Institut de France, the Mazarine Library is France’s oldest public library, founded in 1643. You can visit the bust-lined, late-17th-century…