This article explores the career trajectories of Clare Waight Keller and Stefano Pilati, two celebrated fashion designers who, despite their significant experience leading major houses like Givenchy and Zegna respectively, took unexpected paths after leaving those positions.
It was on 10 April 2020 that Clare Waight Keller announced she was leaving Givenchy after serving the Maison for three years. Waight Keller was Givenchy ’s first-ever female creative director, and while that seemed to be the headlining achievement , her time at the Maison was a creative breath of fresh air while paying homage to founder Hubert de Givenchy .
Both Waight Keller and Pilati—albeit different in styles—share a similarity in that they both followed the traditional path of cutting their teeth at several fashion houses before eventually holding creative reins. Waight Keller started out as part of the design team at Calvin Klein before moving on to Ralph Lauren and then Gucci, while Pilati took on design roles at Giorgio Armani, Prada, Miu Miu, and Yves Saint Laurent.
It’s curious then that with the kind of experience and design excellence they both possess, Waight Keller and Pilati weren’t snapped up by another big-named fashion house.Then last year, Waight Keller announced her first solo venture: a new partnership with Uniqlo called Uniqlo : C. The brand—like most under Uniqlo’s LifeWear umbrella—focuses on building a capsule wardrobe of staple pieces seen through her designer lens.
Pilati launched his own brand Random Identities in 2017 through Instagram. Inspired by Berlin’s club scene and the ongoing shift of gendered clothing, Random Identities is stocked on SSENSE.com, Dover Street Market and a number of other select stockists. Much like Waight Keller with Uniqlo, Random Identities is also a departure from the luxury pricing of Pilati’s former creations. The brand is certainly more affordable yet still with a design point-of-view.
But designers moving out of luxury to more affordable fashion brands as their solo ventures is something that’s quite uncommon., Waight Keller highlighted that the jump from working in a couture house to a brand like Uniqlo was challenging but only in achieving certain techniques at the latter’s usual price point. “The brand was so open to understanding new techniques of finishing.
Fashion Designers Clare Waight Keller Stefano Pilati Givenchy Zegna Uniqlo
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