Photo/Illutration Clare Waight Keller, left, explains Uniqlo’s new clothing line she designed in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Sept. 13. (Yoko Hasegawa)

The Uniqlo clothing chain released a new women’s line on Sept. 15 designed by Clare Waight Keller, a British fashion designer who created Meghan Markle’s wedding dress for her marriage to Britain's Prince Harry.

In a pre-release event in Tokyo, Yukihiro Katsuta, group senior executive officer at Fast Retailing Co., which operates Uniqlo, revealed that the company wanted to improve its women’s clothing line as it expands its business globally.

“We’ve been supported by global customers, but I’ve been wanting to add a little more color, design, proportion, detail, subtlety and female ‘essence’ to women’s everyday clothing,” Katsuta said.

Keller brings the experience and cachet that Uniqlo was seeking. 

The British designer honed her skills at luxury brands such as Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Guccio Gucci S.p.A.

While designing at Chloe in France, she created many trends with her delicate and soft designs. At Ralph Lauren, she experienced designing structured men’s clothing.

“She can adapt to a broad variety of designs based on a proper foundation,” Katsuta said. “I thought that if we could share Uniqlo’s concept of ‘LifeWear,’ she could create designs that we haven’t been able to produce before.”

He said this is not just a one-time collaboration but a continuous project.

The clothing released this season includes trench coats, pleated skirts, floral chiffon dresses and cable-knit cashmere sweaters.

“The trench coat is a timeless British item. This was the starting point,” Keller said. “I aimed to create clothes that people would want to keep in their wardrobes and wear for a long time.”

The new items feature a variety of colors, such as soft yellows and pinks.

“If everything was black, white and gray, (the coordination) would work well, but I wanted to show that it is possible to coordinate various colors,” she added. “I chose colors that could intertwine and complement each other.”

The new line is called “Uniqlo: C.”

Keller said that the “C” represents the words such as city, color and combination, which came to mind as she was creating the collection. The letter is also the initial of her first name.

For Keller, this marks her return to the public stage since stepping down as the artistic director of Givenchy in 2020.

“I was able to return to the front lines in this way,” she said. “I've rediscovered what I want to do.”

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