We sat down with the Creative Director of UNIQLO during our recent trip to Seoul.

The <a href="https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/fashion/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-uniqlo-c-autumn-winter-2025-collection">UNIQLO : C Autumn/Winter 2025 line</a> marks Clare Waight Keller&rsquo;s fifth for the brand, and comes a year after she was officially appointed Creative Director. This season, the designer continues to build on UNIQLO&rsquo;s philosophy of effortless functionality &mdash; this time drawing inspiration from classic English tweeds, modern silhouettes and the idea of movement. Five collections in, we sit down with her to discover what feels new, what has evolved, and how Cate Blanchett came to front the campaign.

What first inspired you in the creation of UNIQLO : C Autumn/Winter 2025 collection? I started out looking at classic English tweed fabrics. I had some really interesting vintage ones with beautiful colours, and that inspired the palette. It was about taking those shades and translating them into clean, modern fabrics. I also liked the idea of thinking about this collection in motion. You can see in the campaign that everyone is moving &mdash; and that&rsquo;s how I think about fashion. We&rsquo;re all running places, travelling, living busy lives. So, it&rsquo;s a constant thought in my head: how can things be practical but still stylish and beautiful?
When creating the UNIQLO : C collection, do you always prioritise functionality in the designs? Yes, functionality is always key at UNIQLO. Everything they do has that sense of performance and function. My role is to bring in style &mdash; and also to think about the total look. In the past, I thought of individual items, like going to buy a T-shirt or a shirt. But with UNIQLO : C, I&rsquo;m looking at how all the pieces work together, and even across seasons. For example, I&rsquo;m wearing a men&rsquo;s piece from the Spring/Summer collection with this season&rsquo;s skirt and jacket &mdash; and the colours coordinate beautifully. That idea of continuity, where each season complements the previous one, feels both sustainable and effortless. I think many people find it challenging to mix colours and silhouettes, so the more I can make that easier, the better. That&rsquo;s part of UNIQLO&rsquo;s philosophy &mdash; to make life effortless.
I once heard you say fashion is becoming more &ldquo;down-to-earth.&rdquo; As the Creative Director of UNIQLO, how do you balance your luxury background with this philosophy? For me, it&rsquo;s not so much a change in process, but in accessibility. In luxury, you often design for image, for runway, for marketing &mdash; which means bold risks and extreme silhouettes that not everyone can wear. At UNIQLO, I take that knowledge and distil it into something easy for everyone. For example, pleated skirts I used to design at Chlo&eacute; or Givenchy can now be translated into pieces anyone can wear. The trench coat is another item I&rsquo;ve revisited season after season, refining it with fresh silhouettes while keeping it wearable. That&rsquo;s how I balance my past with what I do now.

This is your fifth collection for UNIQLO : C. How has your approach evolved since the start? At the beginning, it was just womenswear. Since last September, we&rsquo;ve added menswear, and now I see a lot of cross-shopping &mdash; men buying women&rsquo;s pieces and women buying men&rsquo;s. Going forward, I&rsquo;m designing with more of an unisex approach, creating pieces with fluidity.
You first collaborated with UNIQLO in 2023, and in 202,4 you were named Creative Director. What has been the biggest challenge? The scale, definitely. UNIQLO : C, between men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s, is about 35 to 40 pieces. You&rsquo;d think that would mean endless choice, but it&rsquo;s really about editing and focusing. Many items are core essentials that don&rsquo;t change much &mdash; like a T-shirt that customers come back to season after season. My job is to refine those pieces, updating fabrics and proportions, while also introducing fresh items. For example, the barrel-leg jersey pants we launched two seasons ago are still hugely popular. It&rsquo;s made of jersey that looks woven, has workwear patch pockets, and fits everyone beautifully. That&rsquo;s the balance I aim for &mdash; timeless essentials, refined silhouettes, and a few fashion accents that feel new.

Which piece from this collection would you personally wear over and over, and how would you style it? For me, it&rsquo;s probably the shirt &mdash; especially the high-collared shirt this season. The proportions are great, and I was wearing it all day yesterday. It&rsquo;s so easy, so fresh, and made of a beautiful fine cotton. Even in hot, humid weather, it feels comfortable &mdash; almost like wearing a T-shirt, but with a chic look. That&rsquo;s definitely my go-to piece this season.
How did Cate Blanchett become the star of this campaign? It&rsquo;s a long story. I&rsquo;ve known Cate since my Givenchy days, when I designed red carpet dresses for her. The founder&rsquo;s son at UNIQLO also knew her from a charitable project they worked on together. So, we both connected on the idea, and once Cate was on board, it all came together.

(Image credit: UNIQLO)

Was there a piece in this collection that was especially tricky to design? There are always tricky ones. For example, the skirt with a cut through it &mdash; balancing that was complex. Even the shirt with the rounded body cut required multiple trials to get the right volume and crop length. It may look simple, but achieving that balance takes time. We do four or five fittings on different people, and also trial runs with prototypes &mdash; sometimes a hundred pieces are distributed to the office for feedback. That really helps refine the design until it works perfectly for everyone.
For someone new to the collection, what styling tip would you give them to get creative? I&rsquo;d say start with knitwear &mdash; it&rsquo;s versatile and layers beautifully. From lightweight cashmere shells to jackets, even the men&rsquo;s knitwear is great. I&rsquo;d also recommend trying the culottes this season. They&rsquo;re an in-between piece &mdash; not quite skirt, not quite trousers &mdash; but they look amazing on everyone. For me, they&rsquo;re the new essential: modern, easy, and very wearable.

The UNIQLO : C Autumn/Winter 2025 collection is now in stores.

Clare Waight Keller talks style, function and fluidity in UNIQLO : C AW25 collection

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