Clare Waight Keller, the versatile creative director of Uniqlo, shares her transformative journey through prestigious fashion houses like Gucci and Givenchy. She reveals how embracing discomfort fuels her creativity and growth. Clare discusses the evolution of female perspectives in fashion, her experience in various cultural contexts, and the challenges faced by women in leadership. With fresh insights on navigating the shift from luxury to mass-market retail, she emphasizes the importance of seizing opportunities and learning through challenges.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Street Subcultures Sparked Her Fashion Path
Clare Waight Keller grew up in Birmingham surrounded by punk, skinhead and goth subcultures that shaped her interest in fashion.
She loved making clothes and was drawn to art school to join that creative world.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Knitwear Degree Led Directly To Calvin Klein
Clare studied the inaugural knitwear master's and learned both hand and machine techniques across gauges and structures.
Her degree show with Laura Piña cashmere yarn led directly to a job offer at Calvin Klein.
insights INSIGHT
Commercial Skills Complement Creativity
Working at Calvin Klein taught Clare commercial rigour: merchandising plans, price points and product breadth.
She saw how bold marketing and controversy can amplify a brand beyond the product.
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Clare Waight Keller’s career in fashion has been defined by her versatility as a designer and desire to step outside her comfort zone. She started out specialising in knitwear at the Royal College of Art before taking on a role in knitwear at Calvin Klein, before moving on to Ralph Lauren. She returned to Europe to work at Gucci under Tom Ford, and then stepped into creative director roles at Pringle, Chloé and Givenchy. Last week, it was announced that she was becoming the creative director of Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, which is targeted at the masses, not the classes.
Seeing new challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow, has led Clare to make many unexpected decisions from the start of her career.
“Those moments when you are pushed to your boundaries and don't quite know how to navigate… bring a great sense of drive for me. I love the idea of being uncomfortable with what I'm working on because it makes me learn quickly,” she said. “I enjoy the process of change, and I guess that's why I've worked in so many different places.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder Imran Amed sits down with Clare to discuss her varied career path and her experience working in American, Italian, British, French and now Japanese fashion companies and how this has shaped her outlook on the industry.
Key Insights
Growing up in Birmingham, England, Waight Keller was captivated by the vibrant subcultures she encountered. That influence led her towards art school, and eventually, fashion. “I distinctly remember standing at a bus stop, going to college, with punks, skinheads or goths — people who really expressed themselves through fashion and took it to a real sense of identity,” she said. “They just seemed like the most interesting people. I wanted to be part of that.”
After working for predominantly male creative directors, Clare felt it was time to express her own perspective, leading her to the creative director position at Chloé in 2011. “There's such a sensibility that women have in fashion because you try it on yourself, you wear it, you feel it,” she said. “I'm putting together what I believe to be my point of view of fashion."
Waight Keller’s move to Uniqlo marked a shift from working in the world of luxury to mass fashion, which has required some adjustment. “Understanding the scale was just extraordinary. In luxury fashion, you work on a much smaller scale, even at big brands,” she said. However, with this came new opportunities. “With that scale comes incredible access to innovation, amazing fabric mills, and quality.”
Even as her career flourished, Waight Keller came to discover the inherent gender bias women face in the industry. “It's still fairly male-dominated in management and across the business side of fashion ... I had to make my family work around my career because even a season out in fashion can put you back a year, and people look at you differently.” With that, her advice to fellow female designers is not to “be afraid of a challenge and having to learn on the ground."
The Business of Fashion Podcast