Rumours blazed like wild fires through the fashion industry all summer long, as a musical chair switch-up of designers at leading houses left the most influential jobs up for grabs: who would decide the future of Valentino, Givenchy, Chanel? Certainly Clare Waight Keller, one of Britain’s foremost designers — the former head of Pringle of Scotland, Chloé and Givenchy, where she designed Meghan Markle’s wedding dress — was a front runner.
But insiders were left aghast at the beginning of September, when news broke that Waight Keller was cheating on luxury and taking on the creative director role overseeing all men’s and women’s wear at Japanese high street behemoth Uniqlo. It consolidates part of a bigger industry shift towards the more affordable, with Sienna Miller and Kate Moss designing party collections for M&S and Zara respectively, Zac Posen taking the reins as creative director of Gap, and ASOS and Primark inviting guests to The Fashion Awards on Monday night.
Waight Keller’s task? To bring the feminine edge and a Western touch to the brand once best known for its heat-tech thermals. “Their women’s wear was always something that had quite a unisex feel to it. I think there was a lack of femininity that they felt could open up a new consumer for them,” she says, speaking from Cornwall, where she is recovering from her jet lag after a trip to Uniqlo’s headquarters in Tokyo.
The partnership is not brand new. Waight Keller began talks with the company three years ago, and in September 2023 launched the first of three Uniqlo: C capsule collections, which fashion editors swooned over. “As I became more involved, and spent a lot more time in Tokyo, I ended up crossing over a lot of the meetings that were happening with the main line,” she says. One fan of Waight Keller’s affordable offering was her friend Meghan Markle, who presented her with designer of the year at the Fashion Awards in 2018. The pair are “definitely in touch” today, six years after Waight Keller created the open-boat neckline gown Markle wore to wed Prince Harry. “There are certain key items which I know she always loves: the trench coat, fluid skirts and dresses,” says Waight Keller. “As a Brit, being able to be a part of the royal wedding was incredible. We’ve always maintained a great friendship and hope that it continues.”
Markle is hardly the only stylish shopper who has zoned in on Uniqlo, which is fast rivalling Zara and Mango as the go-to spot for chic purchases on the high street, and offers a host of other popular designer guest collections from JW Anderson to Anya Hindmarch and the ex-Hermès creative director Christophe Lemaire.
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“There is a pride in wearing Uniqlo,” Waight Keller says. And she is right. Few are left to be converted to the belief their cashmere sweaters are the best you can get for £70.90. “Year after year, you can build up different shades. I love adding a new one each year: for 2024 I’ve added olives and browns. The logoless element of Uniqlo makes it so universal — I’ve got designer peers who tell me that they wear Uniqlo all the time — and it’s democratic in the sense there are beautifully made pieces that are good value. It doesn’t have quite as fast a turnover, following trends, like some others.”
As for dressing well today, she suggests leaning into mish-mash. “I’ve got 21-year-old daughters and they happily wear high-street clothes and then aspire to have the designer bag or the designer shoe or buy it second-hand — it’s about that mix, and the high and low. There’s no shame, or feeling a bit less than, now.”
Weight Keller also has a son, 13, with her architect husband Peter, and they live together in west London. She moved there at 17, when she left Birmingham to study at Ravensbourne College. Her father was an industrial design engineer and her mother a legal secretary who “is a very hands-on, do it yourself sewer, tailor and knitter”. After graduating she headed for New York and cut her teeth at Calvin Klein before moving to Gucci under Tom Ford. London reeled her back “because it offers more multiculturalism than any place I’ve ever lived”.
She misses its quirky independent shops, however. “Twenty or 30 years ago, there were so many more unique little stores and boutiques — and when you go to Paris or Tokyo, they do still have them,” she says. “I really hope landlords would try to open their eyes to that kind of an entrepreneur.” It’s not her only directive. “We definitely need to see more women at the top of luxury houses — I still feel that we are underserved in the industry,” she says. “There’s huge opportunity for these companies to embrace female leaders.”
Sarah Burton, formerly of Alexander McQueen, has been announced as the new creative director of Givenchy, which Waight Keller thinks is “great and I wish her the best”. But she fears for the high fashion industry at large. “There’s an awful lot of anxiety about where things are going,” she says. “Since I was at Givenchy, the biggest shift is how much the pricing has changed. What you bought back in 2020 versus now, the same item is enormously different.”
It makes sense, then, to back the universal appeal of Uniqlo. “I think designing something where I can see so many people wearing it is hugely rewarding. I think good design should be for all.” As for her old home in the Parisian ateliers? “I’m never going say I don’t miss the couture. But for now, I’m enjoying taking a different path.”
Uniqlo: C AW24 available at uniqlo.com
