British designer Clare Waight Keller’s move to Uniqlo, the Japanese mass market clothing brand, draws some stark contrasts. Coming most recently from Givenchy as its artistic director, her designs at the Maison were rarified gems. The luxury pieces exemplified craft, with sculptural gowns assembled from layers of fabric like curving peony petals; slouchy suiting made from patterns reminiscent of the strong shouldered-silhouettes Hubert de Givenchy himself was known for; wool with hand feel that could be sensed simply from its weighty undulations down the runway.
As ready-to-wear and haute couture pieces, the price point of these Givenchy pieces would put them out of reach of just about anyone; beautiful and unattainable as museum pieces under glass, and far afield from your standard, flourescently lit mall or e-comm “add to cart” interaction. But there are similarities in Waight Keller’s new styles for Uniqlo, even if those styles happen to be acrylic-cashmere knit blends.
Threaded through Waight Keller’s chic and boxy drop shoulder coats, pleated maxi skirts and crisp plaid shirt dresses, is an idea: taste can’t be bought, but it’s always transferable. And Waight Keller is bringing that same “edited eye” of the luxury market, as she calls it, along with her expert background in knitwear, menswear, and fit to affordable, high-performance everyday clothes. “The founding principle of Uniqlo is really great design and quality for all,” says Waight Keller. “I think the democracy of that is actually really powerful.”
It’s also paying off at a time when the luxury market, by comparison, is experiencing notable churn. Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing posted its third consecutive year of record profit in October, surpassing $20 billion in revenue for the first time. The company’s chief executive, Tadashi Yanai, cited high-potential Western markets as a key part of its growth strategy. “If we want to be truly the top global brand, we would not be able to claim that unless we can become number one in both of those regions, North America as well as Europe,” said Yanai.
Waight Keller has a rich history across American and European houses including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Gucci, and Chloé, prior to joining Givenchy in 2017. This background makes Waight Keller a key hire in Uniqlo realizing that goal.
Here, Weight Keller discusses her vision for the company and how her luxury background helps her achieve it, what the future of fashion retail looks like, and the brands she sees at the forefront of the industry right now.
You joined Uniqlo as creative director in September. Your first collection with the brand released in September 2023. What have you learned since joining Uniqlo, and how is the design process different than at the other end of the spectrum, haute couture?
I learned so much already. The differences are quite significant, obviously. What’s less of a change is really the design process, [which] I approached in the same way. But obviously the further down the line you go, the faster the difference in approach. It’s fascinating working within a Japanese country because they obviously have a very different way of doing things. And in a company that size, there are a lot of things to learn.
But also just learning about how to operate in a Tokyo company environment. For me, if you move houses within Europe, you are in the same type of method, wherever you go. You make your adjustments based on the way you work, but generally the process is pretty much the same. Here, it’s on such a schedule and with so much information about consumers at your fingertips, you really feel you’re much more on the pulse of what’s happening globally.
Haute couture collections are really centered around seasons and a particular capsule idea. This, by comparison, seems like it would require more of an ongoing, rolling understanding of what’s appealing to consumers and deeper market research. Would you say that’s the case?
When you’re working in luxury, you’re very much projecting something. So where there is the runway show and you’re projecting the point of view for the season, you’re also projecting the brand and very much the signatures, the logo, the DNA, all of those things.
Uniqlo is much more about an ethos. The ethos is about quality functionality, innovation, trustworthiness, in terms of people coming back again and again, knowing that the tech works. It’s a very different approach, but they equally have their loyalties. It’s really interesting, knowing the two different worlds, but also being able to learn a lot from both.
What is your overall vision or strategy for Uniqlo?
I’m very much looking to grow the women’s wear from not only amazing timeless basics and classics, which they’re known for, but also from a fashion perspective. I’m going to be looking much more at proportions; looking at what could be the next silhouette for the next season or two, and trying to bring that level of sophistication to their core product.
The other part for me is building on what they already have as a very strong DNA, which is their innovation. I’m working very closely with their fabric mills on some of the most cutting-edge and scientific fabric developments that are coming out of Japan right now.
How does your luxury background inform your ability to do that?
For me, you take with you the principles of fitting—understanding proportion and shape from a fashion perspective—but also it’s the edited eye. One of the things that you really look at when you’re designing in luxury is, “what is the look, what is the message of the season?” It’s quite interesting to navigate that when you’re working on a global scale and to bring that same focus to something with such a broad reach.
Could you talk a little bit more about that challenge of having an edited eye for a global scale? To me, it brings to mind such a unique micro and macro tension.
It’s true. It’s almost perfectly captured in my own collaboration collection, which is made up of about 35 pieces. So imagine, only 35 pieces have to serve every woman who might come into a shop across the globe. That is a really finite number of items, and they all need to come together as a different look. So I’m really trying, as I’m building it, to think about how you can cross-pollinate if you like all the different elements, so that this sweater will work with that pant, that jean; this jacket will work with that top, that neckline. It’s almost like a puzzle in a way. You have to maximize with the most minimum amount of items.
But that’s Uniqlo’s strength. They’re probably looking at about 250 items launched every six months, whereas many brands that are at their scale are launching that per week. So, it’s really a different system entirely. They’re much more about the perfect item and lots of color options or maybe fabric options, but not a lot of change, change, change.
That makes me think a bit about mass market as a concept more generally. You’re coming from a world that is in a lot of ways quintessentially slow fashion; really, art. Consumers own these items for years and years and years. Can you talk a bit about that difference, and about how your background in slow fashion comes into play here?
That’s what was so welcoming about starting to talk to Uniqlo because I did really want to try and understand the process and how they work. Obviously coming from something so rarified, I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose my approach and skill that I use to make things, and decisions that really give longevity to pieces.
What I found with Uniqlo is the concept of life wear, which is really that something should last for a good time, a good life span. This is certainly the case for me when I’ve been shopping at Uniqlo over the last decade. I have things from Jill Sanders’s first or second season that I still have today. They’re still super quality in great condition, and quite timeless as well.
The element of Uniqlo that I really appreciate is that they approach things from a timeless sensibility but bring the fashion aspect through color or the fit. It’s sort of nuanced. It’s not about suddenly doing an asymmetric neck or something that’s got a big, huge shape on the side. It’s really very much about what are those absolute core wardrobe items and then let’s affect it.
You also mentioned sourcing. Does that come into play as well as far as choosing source materials and things like that?
Yes, definitely. We are really starting to look towards trying to be as sustainability minded as possible. That’s something I’m trying to drive through when I’m working with the brand. About 25% of what they do currently does fall into that, but we want to work towards getting much further.
The hard part is on their scale with quality, and what you find. Something that’s not talked about a lot when speaking about sustainability is that a lot of blended, recycled fibers and fabrics are quite weak and don’t last very long. We have to find something that really gives them strength, so they are as good as the virgin fiber.
We really have extremely high quality standards, so that’s being looked at on every level when we start looking at that approach. The idea ultimately is that you just don’t buy it very often—you are keeping that cashmere for 10 years and it still looks great. And if you don’t want it anymore, bring it back to Uniqlo. If you bring it back to us, we recycle it. That’s one of the things that we’re really trying to push as part of our program.
How would you hope that Uniqlo would evolve under your tenure? Say in a year or two?
For me, it’s really working towards bringing women’s wear to a more fashion place, and also expanding on accessories. That’s still a really tiny part of what they do. I’d love to see more of that coming into the collection and building more strength there, especially shoes and eyewear. Those are things that will be coming soon.
H&M has been collaborating with designers for years. Zac Posen recently joined Gap to a lot of buzz. In addition to your onboarding at Uniqlo, the company has released a collection with JW Anderson. What does the move of luxury and ready-to-wear designers into mass markets say about where the fashion industry is headed?
What’s interesting about working with people like myself or Jonathan [Anderson] is that we really have a different approach. We come from a principle of design that could be considered extremely high luxury. We’re bringing our knowledge and techniques to a bigger audience.
The founding principle of Uniqlo is really great design and quality for all. I think the democracy of that is actually really powerful. Anybody could wear the product there and the product is designed with great quality in mind, but also beautiful design. There’s a real purity in the way they approach things. This idea that it’s for everyone, it’s not an elitist approach to fashion.
What does consumer interest in this type of crossover say about the retail environment right now? Is there more appetite for, or more familiarity with, luxury designers?
It’s really changed in the last decade. I think a huge part of that is social media. Literally, you could talk to an 8-year-old and they would probably know the name of a luxury brand today. Certainly, in my era, that would never have happened. I would have no idea. Maybe Chanel. To think that today 10 Gen Alphas could name them is kind of astonishing.
That’s also to do with what you see around us now. There’s digital billboards everywhere. You’re being bombarded, certainly. There’s celebrities, there’s musicians, tennis stars; everybody is involved in fashion now. There’s obviously a kind of glamor that’s very much attached to that, but it really shows that luxury has become a very, very big business.
I was talking to Simon Doonan, who was the longtime creative director at Barneys, and he said fashion used to be for a core group of elevated consumers. Not many people were involved outside of it or interested even in covering it or participating in it. Social media seems to have revived it in some fashion.
Definitely. It makes it feel more accessible. I think that’s one of the reasons—I’m just speculating here—but one of the reasons why prices have increased so much is to try to give it a more rarified feel through price, versus now the fact that you do see it everywhere.
What appealed to you about the move from the designer market into the mass market with Uniqlo?
Two reasons. One was working in Japan. I mean, what a unique opportunity to work in a country like that and work in Tokyo. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world. I just thought I’m never going to get an experience where I get to work literally in Tokyo. So every two months, I spend two weeks in Japan, and I love it. Honestly, I’m always excited to get on the plane, and I’ve always got a list of things that I want to do and see there. It still feels like the future. Tokyo really has got an amazing vibe to it.
Secondly, the reach—that I could genuinely design products that could be on a global scale. I like the democracy of it. I think it’s really modern to be able to offer great design to so many people.
I noticed on your Instagram page that architecture seems to be a major point of creative inspiration for you. Why is that?
One of the things I love doing when I travel is seeing the different cities, and having these unique and special buildings to go and see. There’s always a list wherever I go. When I was in Mexico City, I went to see Luis Barragán. Palm Springs recently had an open house of the really unique buildings from the ’50s and ’60s. I find there’s something very interesting about them, because in a way, houses are quite democratic, too.
They’re places where anyone can live. They really need to work for people. So I find a real correlation, I suppose, with fashion in the sense that there is a practicality in a house in the same way that there is a practicality in fashion. But ultimately, if it’s beautifully designed, you’re in awe. It’s the same approach, which I quite enjoy studying and seeing.
Do you have any favorite architects?
Japan is definitely going up because I’m seeing a lot over there. I mean, everything from the ancient, beautiful villages in Kyoto. The Gion area, which has all of those really amazing Geisha houses, and the construction, and the way they’re built with all the beautiful details, the simplicity.
There’s also the obvious famous ones, like Tadao Ando, but also Hiroshi Sugimoto does beautiful things. I’m discovering more and more every time I go.
How would you describe your approach to fashion design as a craft?
It’s a balance between creativity and practicality. Ultimately, every piece of fashion that you create needs to be worn on a body, so there is a consideration for that. I also really have to understand, “what am I bringing that is new?” “What am I bringing to this which will make someone buy it and fall in love with that piece?” or say, “Oh my God, that’s going to make me look amazing and feel amazing.”
Fashion has an amazing, emotional impact on people. I mean, case in point, why do they take away all the clothes from people who go to prison and put them in the same thing, or the same uniform? It’s to take away a personality, in a sense.
By looking at fashion through that lens, you realize that fashion has a huge impact on how you read a person. The skill of a designer is to create a mood and a feeling that people feel they can embrace, create their own look with, or bring some of their personality to.
What are some of your favorite brands to watch right now?
Again, I’ve seen some very interesting stuff in Asia. There are some menswear brands in Tokyo that I think are doing really interesting things, with quite beautiful approaches to fashion. Equally, there are amazing ones in Korea. Some of the coolest kinds of things are in Seoul at the moment. There are also a couple of brands in Shanghai.
Across Asia, really, there are the most dynamic kinds of brands that are stepping outside the box and doing something different because they’re not part of the European scene. So they have to push the boundaries. [Via email, Waight Keller cited South Korean brand Ader Error and Japanese brand Visvim as two examples.]
I also love Gentle Monster eyewear. Absolutely phenomenal. Their stores are incredible; so inspiring when you’re in there. They’re so cool. For me, those are the kind of things that are popping up and feeling super innovative and interesting.