Christophe Lemaire and Uniqlo are joining forces permanently following the success of their collaboration. The Japanese fast fashion brand will be taking Lemaire on as artistic director, designing a new line called Uniqlo U. The affordable line will be unveiled in July during Paris Couture Week.
Lemaire said the line would be “elevated basics,” similar to the brand’s collaboration +J with Jil Sanders. He told Business of Fashion, “But U is a little more democratic. The biggest issue was to design things that are essential enough to be timeless, and understood by everyone. Our ambition is to fill the gap between what’s fashion and what’s ‘normal.’ I know the word ‘normcore’ is overused, but there’s something about normality I find very interesting—how do you make it super normal but refined and cool and desirable?”
Uniqlo and Lemaire first teamed up last year for two limited edition men’s and women’s collections in Fall 2015, and we look forward to what is next!
