Photo: Courtesy of Uniqlo
After a successful year designing for sub-label Uniqlo: C, Clare Waight Keller has now been appointed as Uniqlo‘s creative director, set to oversee all of the mainline collections offered by the brand — from Heattech to menswear. The designer will also continue to lead Uniqlo: C, which focuses on refined and tailored silhouettes like blazers, maxi dresses, pleated skirts and more. The announcement comes amid Uniqlo’s accelerated plans for U.S. expansion.
“Working with Uniqlo over these past two years, I have been hugely impressed by their innovation and ability to create exceptional products,” said Waight Keller in a press release. “Working with the team, I became deeply immersed in the brand and the future they are creating.”
“Clare Waight Keller’s work with Uniqlo: C has convinced me that she is one of the few creators in the world able to achieve a high level of balance between creation and merchandising,” Yukihiro Katsuta, Fast Retailing Group senior executive officer and head of R&D for Uniqlo, said in a statement. “I believe that the experience, knowledge, and skills that she has amassed, based on a keen aesthetic sense and intellect, will greatly expand the world of Uniqlo LifeWear.”
The news marks the England-born designer’s third director role in the fashion industry. Waight Keller was named artistic director of Chloé in 2011, eventually leaving to become Givenchy‘s first female artistic director of haute couture and ready-to-wear in 2017. She left the brand in April 2020, beginning a design hiatus of sorts for the next three years until launching Uniqlo: C.
The aesthetics of her existing work with the Japanese retail giant reflect that of her Parisian design roots, a visual we can expect to see permeate the entire brand through her new role. “What you’ll start to notice is that within some of those core programs there’ll be new fashion shapes, and there’ll be new silhouettes that drop every other month, to really bring in the freshness,” she told Vogue in an interview. “In the fashion industry, especially luxury, it’s all about change, change, change. What are the new proportions? The new silhouettes? That’s important to keep things moving, but the truth is, it’s the timeless pieces that people buy in a big, big way.”
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Source: Fashionista.com