Going From Royal Gowns to Uniqlo
The New York Times
Clare Waight Keller, who designed Meghan Markle’s wedding dress, finds a different kind of luxury at a mass market brand.
Last month, standing in a sunny TriBeCa studio among racks of clothes, Clare Waight Keller was back in her element. The British fashion designer, perhaps best known as the designer of Meghan Markle’s wedding gown, had arrived from London to reveal her latest Uniqlo: C capsule collection and to announce her role as the new creative director of Uniqlo.
At a moment when luxury fashion is trending toward an economic downturn and many houses are grappling with high-profile designer comings and goings, Ms. Waight Keller is betting on a Japanese behemoth known for affordable, high-quality layers — covetable sweaters, T-shirts and jackets — that are the staples of many a wardrobe.
Ms. Waight Keller wore an all-gray ensemble of straight-leg trousers and a wool knit blazer from Uniqlo. As she walked editors and reporters through her capsule collection, a concise lineup of $25 cashmere-blend knits, in soft shades of loden and moss, and $60 pants in suiting fabric, bolstered this time with Uniqlo: C’s first men’s wear capsule, Ms. Waight Keller’s ease reflected her long-running career in the industry.
Until 2020, she had been the creative director at Givenchy, where cashmere sweaters typically ran upward of $1,000. She was the first woman to hold the job at the storied French house. Her collections, favored by the likes of Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore and Gal Gadot, mixed a streamlined and modern aesthetic with precise and purposeful tailoring.
In 2018, Ms. Waight Keller’s first couture collection for Givenchy — her first-ever foray into haute couture — was critically acclaimed. Then came the dress seen round the world: a double-bonded silk cady gown with a bateau neckline worn by Ms. Markle for her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
The two women have remained close and share “a beautiful friendship,” Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, wrote in an email, adding that she owns several of Ms. Waight Keller’s Uniqlo pieces, including a trench coat and several dresses. “Her pieces for the brand have movement and modern grace,” she wrote.
