From haute couture to the high street

Clare Waight Keller on taking the reins at Uniqlo

- JOE BROMLEY

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 a new 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, and Zac Posen taking the reins as creative director of Gap.

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.