Each of our models were handpicked from the B.H. audience– introducing Ryan, Tom, and Andrew for UNIQLO : C.
Since its founding in 1984, fashion lovers have offered up all sorts of explanations for the surefooted growth of Japanese high street giant, UNIQLO.
Most settle into praise for the company’s competitive quality-to-price ratio (and deservedly so), but what the numbers brigade often fail to mention is the brand’s history of choosy, clued-in collaboration.
When your line-up of regular co-designers includes Christophe Lemaire (ex-Hermès) and Jonathan Anderson (ex-Loewe), you know you’re playing in a band apart – a feat that UNIQLO has been mastering since 2009, when it first tapped Jil Sander for the creation of +J.
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Never a brand to dwell too long on its own success, UNIQLO is now bringing the third season of its ‘C’ diffusion label to Australia. Billed (with textbook understatement) as “a modern collection of elevated essentials”, it further deepens UNIQLO’s connection to the fashion establishment – via the not-so-secret weapon of Clare Waight Keller.
Previously best known for her work at Chloé – and designing the bridal gown of the Duchess of Sussex – the award-winning Briton was first tapped to create the UNIQLO : C concept in 2023.
There’s a tentativeness to the duo’s creative partnership that lends the Fall/Winter 2024 collection palpable excitement. Crucially, this marks the first time Keller is trying her hand at menswear – a prelude to UNIQLO’s mainline men’s collection (which she’ll also be designing this upcoming season).
At a glance, the ‘C’ moniker appears to be a fairly obvious acknowledgment of Keller’s starring role; yet the designer insists it’s also a prelude to many key themes present in UNIQLO’s latest cold-weather offering.
To put things alliteratively, as Keller does, UNIQLO : C is all about “people commuting”, a “real clarity” in colour palette and the idea of design with “a sort of cheekiness” in mind.’
For Fall/Winter 2024, each of these themes collides upon the site of London’s Barbican. A hallmark example of British brutalist architecture, Keller cited the complex’s famously imposing structures as the “starting point” of the collection – a blueprint of oversized silhouettes, cut with an otherwise classical proportion.
“At one point, [the estate] was actually called ‘the ugliest building in England’,” she observes. “But when you actually spend time here…there’s this sense of nature in the middle. I’ve lived in so many cities, and having this sort of center of community is so important to your everyday life.”
This dichotomy, between built environments and the natural world, greatly informs the UNIQLO : C colour palette. Wearers may imagine the muted greys of Barbican Centre in knitwear or a catnap-ready jacket.
Meanwhile, a series of ponds (running parallel to the Barbican’s main public square) supply UNIQLO’s designers with soothing aquatic tones: presented in a pair of tapered trousers in seafoam green, or indigo denim suffused with subtle hints of brown.
As for Keller herself: it’s telling that the pieces she’s most excited about in the collection all fall on the men’s side. In what feels like a progression of the women’s outerwear (for Spring/Summer 2024), there’s a mid-length coat in tonal wool microcheck – wonderful for week-round wear, even when you’re off the clock – and four “essential” takes on the ubiquitous sweatsuit. Rest assured: these have been formulated for a life of wear that goes well beyond the couch.
“It’s really clean and looks a bit dressed up, but still casual,” says Keller. “A wide open leg and a much baggier thigh for a slight taper at the bottom.” Sure, the inspirations all sound brutal: but the comfort is anything but.
UNIQLO : C Fall/Winter 2024 arrives in Australia, online and at select stores, on February 13th. Discover the entire collection below.
This article is presented in partnership with UNIQLO. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Boss Hunting.
