Clare Waight Keller - Designer, Creative Director of Uniqlo

[tourbillions]

Always love the collabs with uniqlo, less loud more quality than h&m ones

 

[Nimsay]

Demnas Balenciaga tshirt IS a well cut proposition. The drape is beautiful.

I really learned to not look at labels anymore, but the hard way.
When you hear Demna droning on about how sophisticated the cut of his sweatshirts is - the usual load of bull***t to justify the outrageous price - and then see how actually ingenious the cut of a simple +J t-shirt is for €14, you learn to use your own eyes and give brands the respect they deserve (not much, in general).
In CWK's shoes, I'd find more prestige in following Jil's path than Matthew Williams's.

 

[Nimsay]

Oh fabulous for her. I really dont know her look too well so this is a smart move to show she is mass market while still retaining a designer image. I hope there is a mens line.

Uniqlo is defintely an incubator

 

[Lola701]

It was actually Lacoste and Hermes that helped Lemaire relaunch.

But Uniqlo is more instrumental to the success of the Lemaire brand than Hermes or Lacoste. There’s a kind of direct transposition in terms of aesthetic.
And it’s huge in Asia from what I have been told.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

But Uniqlo is more instrumental to the success of the Lemaire brand than Hermes or Lacoste. There’s a kind of direct transposition in terms of aesthetic.
And it’s huge in Asia from what I have been told.

Lemaire has been big in Japan since the 90s. It was while at Lacoste that he literally relaunched his eponymous line. Lacoste was very supportive and they even had a Lemaire/Lacoste cobranded store. But it was at Hermes when things really took off.

 

[MulletProof]

Lemaire has been big in Japan since the 90s.

I don't even know what this discussion is about but I was like 'big in Japan AS A TEENAGER?!' .. just looked this up. Man I can't believe he's my mom's age and therefore pushing 60. I thought he was in his early 40s haha the things you learn..

 

[Kennnnn]

It's not clear to me what gap Uniqlo is hoping to fill with CWK... perhaps they are trying to create a more refined, tailored line for an older customer. I suppose it might be a more serious version of the Ines de la Fressange capsule.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

It's not clear to me what gap Uniqlo is hoping to fill with CWK... perhaps they are trying to create a more refined, tailored line for an older customer. I suppose it might be a more serious version of the Ines de la Fressange capsule.

My guess is that they need her help with womenswear and specifically with more feminine items like blouses and dresses which are their weakest category.

 

[vogue28]

Claire Waight Keller announced as the designer behind Uniqlo’s latest brand, Uniqlo C:

 

[perhydrol]

That is the launch that actually made me excited. And the clothes look pretty wonderful!

 

[LadyJunon]

Claire Waight Keller announced as the designer behind Uniqlo’s latest brand, Uniqlo C:

Full article:

Clare Waight Keller, of Givenchy and Chloé Fame, Is the Designer Behind Uniqlo’s Newest Label
BY NICOLE PHELPS

August 16, 2023

Clare Waight Keller is the designer behind Meghan Markle’s royal wedding dress. During her three years as the LVMH-owned house’s first female artistic director, she put the likes of Cate Blanchett, Rachel Weisz, and Charlize Theron in Givenchy couture. Her exit was announced in April 2020, just as the world was locking down amidst the first wave of Covid, and she spent the early part of the pandemic with her family at home in the English countryside, not a bad way to wait out the crisis, all things considered. But by early 2022 she was back in London and seriously underemployed, as the feminist sociologists might say, another woman squeezed out of the luxury fashion sphere.

Enter Yukihiro Katsuta. The head of research and development for Uniqlo and the man responsible for initiating the Japanese company’s 2009-2011 +J partnership with Jil Sander was on the phone. “I’ve studied a lot of designers, and what distinguishes Clare is that she makes great clothing with a female essence,” he said on a recent visit to the company’s meatpacking district headquarters in New York. “I believe her wealth of experience and her designs that fully appreciate the modern woman will usher in a new standard of LifeWear for women.”

Would Clare like to talk about working together? Why yes, she would. “It started really organically,” Waight Keller said. “But in the end, it looked so strong as one story that we decided that maybe it could evolve into its own label.” Uniqlo C makes its debut in 1,500 Uniqlo stores around the world, and on the company’s e-commerce site on September 15, and it’s easily the biggest exposure of Waight Keller’s career, after that royal wedding gown.

The fall 2023 launch collection is a distilled lineup of 30 pieces, many of which echo the designer’s work at Givenchy and the six years of Chloé collections that predate it. “I wanted to bring the essence of what I do: fluidity, movement, femininity—those were really key,” she said. “But I also wanted to bring my sort of British sensibilities—the fact that I’ve always loved a little bit of this boy-meets-girl style, and the idea of attitude dressing.”

The key piece is the trench. In the campaign, it’s sized up for a generous fit, but otherwise it’s classically tailored with a contrast checked lining that gives the water-resistant gabardine a pleasing substantiality. Other pieces, from wide-wale cords and cocoon-shaped shackets to wrinkle-proof pleated skirts and drawstring-waisted dresses, have been cut with an eye for comfort. The collection is informed by the ways in which Waight Keller sees the pandemic having reshaped women’s perspectives about getting dressed.

“It’s this idea of an effortless wardrobe that’s really focused, and captures chic, casual, weekend—all the elements of everyday lifestyle for this customer.” The puzzle, as she put it, is combining that sense of comfort with performance, quality, and price, “and getting all of those things to come to a beautiful result.” That’s where her color sense came into play: The peachy orange and butter yellow pieces will conjure Chloé memories, where her best collections blended confidence with a sense of the carefree, but there’s also sapphire blue and tomato red amidst the neutrals.

To be sure, Uniqlo is a departure for Waight Keller, who reestablished Givenchy’s couture atelier when she was at the Paris house, and started her career with Tom Ford at Gucci. But working on a massive global scale—dressing the world, so to speak—provides its own kind of luxury, she said. “It was a full six months of just working on 30 pieces, all the way from doing the different fabric trials to doing up to five fittings on things, which is not normal. Usually [at luxury houses] we’re racing through two or three and then on to the next.”

As for the label name? “The letter C,” Waight Keller explained, “captured a lot of the things that I was talking about: people commuting living in the city, the fact that there is a real clarity to the palette, and this idea of casual, but also a sort of cheekiness.” That duality—what Waight Keller’s former boss at LVMH called the ability to “balance dream and rationality to perfection”—well, that’s the Clare of it all.

And if you were wondering, yes, there will be a Uniqlo C version of the round mini shoulder bag that became a TikTok phenomenon and a surprise IRL bestseller for the company. Waight Keller’s version is slightly larger than the original with an expandable pleat on the bottom for added utility. But the detail about the collection that’s really likely to go viral is the footwear. The lug soled vegan leather Chelsea boots are going for four figures—as in $59.90. It’s Uniqlo’s very first foray into footwear. This is big news too: Fall 2023 is just the beginning of Uniqlo C. Waight Keller has spring 2024 done and dusted and is already hard at work on fall 2024.

Source: Vogue

The collection itself looks good too, if not a bit too Jil Sander/Lemaire/Philo-esque.

 

[TaylorBinque]

She posted more previews on her IG. I think it looks great. This would fill the “designed” stuff at Uniqlo. I love Uniqlo for basics and Uniqlo U is great for simplicity but it’s very plain. I think having her collection a little more designed, fashion and chicer would fill right in. Great for driving people to the store too.

 

[MulletProof]

I think anything for Uniqlo is never not going to be plain, and some of us love it for that lol. I’m curious, never forget that grey Pringle of Scotland collection .. will definitely check it out!

 

[Lola701]

Givenchy wasn’t the best casting for her (even if I didn’t mind buying her stuff when it was on sales) but this is good. I mean, she is a good designer regardless and this is good, pragmatic and intelligent designs.
It has that Uniqlo aesthetic and it’s good. I will definitely order or try to have my hands on the sleeveless knitwear and the color block pleated skirts.

I actually find her proposition more complete because her aesthetic is not so boxed. She can do great minimalism and more romantic stuff and it’s all very seamless and international (compared to Ines de La Fressange or JWA who have a very Parisian or English aesthetic).

‘Good job!

 

[Kennnnn]

I'm very sorry but I don't like it. It looks like Comptoir des Cottoniers mixed with Eileen Fisher - and I'm not sure what age demographic this is going to appeal to. The baseball caps look strange with the outfits.

 

[perhydrol]

I don't think it has to appeal to a strict age demographic. Those pieces are extremely easy to incorporate into anyone's wardrobe. That, in turn, is the essence of Uniqlo for me. For that reason, I can already see it being way more successful than the Marni collab. The styling of this campaign is pretty interesting, too, it reminds me of Clare's Chloé circa 2012 mixed with some hints of her Givenchy tenure here and there. The most impressive part of this offering is that she managed to make the viral Uniqlo bag desirable and sophisticated, even if it's made of faux leather. That's no small feat!

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I think it's alright.

Feels a bit like Uniqlo trying to do Zara.

 

[tricotineacetat]

As a whole, I find it quite a bit underwhelming and this has got to be the ugliest color palette I've seen in a long time - brick orange and pastel yellow for winter, who wears that?!

It feels like a slightly more modern Ines de la Fressange collection and it suffers like most of their more recent collaborations from having to meet with such low target prices, due to which there is a lot of polyester in everything, from the brushed jersey of the suit jacket to a lot of the knitwear - By comparison, most of Jil Sander's +J collection used mostly wool or at least higher quality wool blends for the suiting and outerwear and decent quality yarns on the knits, reflected by the higher prices than what Uniqlo U or Clare's collection retails for. I have my doubts on the quality of those shoes, at that price the most decent kind of footwear you can expect is a vulcanized canvas shoe, such as Converse or maybe what Rick Owens does in his DRKSHDW line.

If the aim was to attract a more feminine customer to Uniqlo, I guess the target is met in that the dresses and skirts are the better pieces in this range. The lantern sleeve dress with the brushstroke print is nice, as is the more chunky cable knit one. The pleated skirt with contrasting fabric panel at the bottom adds a nice, playful touch.

Needless to say, I think Lemaire's collection is far superior than this, I think he understands very well to conceive products that feel 'honest' at the price they retail for and will not pretend to be something they're not, if that makes any sense.

 

[Caffeine]

brick orange and pastel yellow for winter, who wears that

Coincidentally I've been thinking if I were to buy the yellow skirt, how I should be wearing it...but I'm intrigued in a positive way!

 

[Tchi]

Clare deserves a spot in fashion, her woman is very real and there are pieces here I know I will buy for sure.