Clare Waight Keller hones her vision for Uniqlo

"It's so interesting to be in this space, as I am learning so much about a whole different segment. This role gives me more reach than I have ever had, as so many people dress in Uniqlo." So says Clare Waight Keller, the former Givenchy creative director and creator of Meghan Markle's wedding dress, who was named the creative director of Uniqlo in September and is now steering the core collection from Tokyo and London.

Waight Keller's move from luxury fashion to mass apparel came as a jolt to many. The misconception is that designers look down on commercial clothing retailers, and never the twain shall meet. But Waight Keller, who was born in Birmingham and trained at the Royal College of Art, has often taken the zag to predictable zig in a stellar career that has taken her Stateside to work with Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, to Milan to join Tom Ford at Gucci, and back to the UK to head up Pringle of Scotland, before she became creative director of Chloé in 2011.

Her last haute job was creative director of Givenchy, working in the most rarefied echelons of fashion artistry, stirring up aspiration amongst the one per cent. "I would not rule out another move back into luxury, but when you can create hits on this scale, it makes you so proud," smiles the 50-something mother of three, now ensconced in her barn conversion in Cornwall after a two-week trip to the Uniqlo HQ in Tokyo.

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"I live in London, but being here is a great way to shake off the jet lag," she laughs. Her experience, beginning as a specialist in knitwear, is impressive and she is propelled by new challenges and problem-solving, often joining brands at critical moments.

But perhaps it was her time in New York in the 1990s, when the Brit Cool explosion was just happening, that helped define an approach that is open-minded and capable of communicating across cultural and geographic boundaries.

Waight Keller's appointment comes at a time when the apparel mammoth is planning a major expansion in the UK (where it currently has 20 stores), America and Australia. "In the home market, Uniqlo has been around for 40 years and millions of Japanese people have grown up with the brand. Expansion into Europe began in 2001, and in the US from 2005, so it’s still fresh in that sense," she says.

"The East represents 70 per cent of the network and the West 30 per cent, so being part of this expansion feels great. With that scale comes incredible access to innovation, amazing fabric mills, and quality. The company spends a lot of time developing the quality of its products."

Waight Keller's entrée into the brand happened when she was asked to create the C line that launched in 2023. Her elegant pleat skirts, trench coats and tailoring were a hit, leading to seasonal collections and the launch of menswear C this September.

"The C line was growing much bigger, and part of the equation was figuring out how that relates to the main line. I organically became more involved, and that evolved into the creative director position. It is a whole new territory for me and leads me deep into technological and material advances, as well as overseeing the colour, silhouettes and styles," she explains.

Waight Keller definitely has a knack for designing winners, such as the sweatpants and hoodies in the first men's collection that became top five Uniqlo global bestsellers, or the trench coat that has now moved into the core collection. "My agenda is to bring an element of fashion into the main line, but it is not a fast-fashion approach, it is about items that have longevity with a style point of view," she says.

The appointment comes at a time when the entire fashion system is evolving rapidly. Zac Posen, who built his career creating glamorous big gowns, is injecting new life into Gap Inc. as creative director, while Stefano Pilati, who once helmed Yves Saint Laurent, has released a range with Zara.

The drive behind such high-profile appointments is to create more distinct products that have a bigger presence in our wardrobes than mere basics. With prices escalating, luxury is becoming increasingly niche, and mass offers huge opportunities.

Travel is a great eye-opener and Waight Keller, who spends, on average, 12 weeks a year in Tokyo, is thriving on the contrasts. She now commutes across the city without a map and has her favourite haunts in the Shibuya district. Weekends are spent exploring areas of Japan as well as neighbouring Asian cities such as Seoul.

"In the coming decade, I do think the East is going to be more interesting in terms of fashion. There are so many small emerging brands that are not emulating luxury. For me, that is where things are exciting, and I am fascinated seeing it bubbling up." Meanwhile, it's back to the day job of being one of fashion's most influential creatives.

Good to know

Uniqlo is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing group, which also includes Theory and Helmut Lang. The group, headquartered in Tokyo, achieved global sales of approximately 3.1 trillion yen (US $21.42 billion) for the 2024 fiscal year ending in August.