By Denise McCarty

France's La Poste is continuing its tradition of having famous fashion designers or houses create the illustrations for its heart-shaped Love stamps issued in time for use on Valentine mail.

The tradition began in 2000 with stamps designed by Yves Saint Laurent (Scott 2750-2753).

The most recent stamps, issued Jan. 12, were designed by the fashion house founded in 1968 by Sonia Rykiel (1930-2016).

The stamps also commemorate the 50th anniversary of this fashion house, and each design is inscribed “1968” at the bottom.

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Sonia Rykiel’s fashions are known both for their stripes, especially in red, black and white, and for the use of symbolic hearts. Julie de Libran, the artistic director of Sonia Rykiel, decided to pay tribute to these stripes and heart images, in creating the designs for the stamps.

The new heart-shaped €1.60 stamp includes black-and-white stripes on the stamp and red and black stripes surrounding it. Shown in the center of the stamps are lips with “S’aimer” (love) written on them.

On the 80¢ stamp, red silhouettes of a couple kissing are shown on a white background. The word “baiser” translates to kiss.

Philaposte printed the stamps in sheets of 30. The 80¢ also was issued in a sheet of five.