Designer Clare Waight Keller, largely absent from the fashion scene since parting ways with Givenchy three years ago, has been quietly working on a collection for Uniqlo, sources told WWD.
It is understood her first designs for the Japanese fashion chain will reach stores as early as this fall.
Contacted by WWD late last week, a spokesman for Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. said “we cannot confirm any new projects or collections at this time.”
Additional particulars about Waight Keller’s designs and the launch plan could not immediately be learned.
The British designer would join an illustrious clutch of designers that have collaborated with Uniqlo, including Jil Sander, Jonathan Anderson, Christophe Lemaire, Tomas Maier and Undercover’s Jun Takahashi and Inès de la Fressange. These talents have helped nudge the brand beyond its core casualwear focus with tailoring, dresses and statement outerwear.
To be sure, Waight Keller would bring a wealth of experience from her varied fashion career.
She was the first woman to lead Givenchy since it was established in 1952, and catapulted the brand’s international prominence — and her own — by dressing Meghan Markle for her royal nuptials in 2018.
Among Waight Keller’s key accomplishments at that storied house was bringing couture back to the runway — and fueling the Givenchy’s momentum on the red carpet, dressing the likes of Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
During an eventful, three-year stint, she plied a tasteful, aristocratic brand of couture occasionally spiked with toughness or subversion.
Waight Keller scored the British designer of the year award for women’s wear at the 2018 Fashion Awards in London, and made the Time 100 List list in 2019.
The designer had joined Givenchy in 2017 after an acclaimed six-year tenure at Chloé. Before that, she spent six years designing Pringle of Scotland.
A calm, soft-spoken woman with a ready smile, Waight Keller brought a sure and steady hand while at Chloé, rejuvenating its ready-to-wear and accessories business and winning largely positive reviews for her collections.
Boasting a strong background in knitwear and men’s wear, Waight Keller served as senior women’s designer at Gucci during the Tom Ford era, and had also worked at Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein earlier in her career.
Uniqlo operates some 2,400 stores around the world, and Fast Retailing’s chief Tadashi Yanai has ambitions to be the largest apparel retailer in the world.
