It didn’t take much convincing for Anya Hindmarch to team up with Uniqlo. The British designer – who has just created a capsule of knitted pieces for the affordable brand – was already the biggest fan of their collections, and jumped at the chance to work with them.
“Between us all, my family probably has every one of their jumpers,” Hindmarch tells me. “In fact, we actually have to Sharpie the labels of them so we know which one belongs to who.”
Uniqlo – which is known for its exceptional high-low collaborations, including with the likes of JW Anderson and Clare Waight Keller – approached Hindmarch about doing something, and she was on board immediately.
“I was super excited. The timing is always tight with these things, and obviously we were working with Japanese hours, but they were honestly the nicest team to work with. I’ve never known anyone work as hard as the Uniqlo team – they were such a joy to collaborate with.”
The end result is a collection that is made up of jumpers, both cashmere and lambs’ wool, scarves, hats, gloves and socks, for both women and children. The designer has taken Uniqlo pieces and given them a little Anya spin with exposed seams, embroidered details, and of course those trademark googly eyes.
“They asked what I wanted to design – we actually did knitwear years ago, and people always ask us to bring it back but because we have such a wide range of products, we wanted to wait for the right opportunity, and this really felt like it,” she says. “As I’ve said, I am such a huge fan of their knitwear so I really wanted to play around with that.”
“I think their shapes are absolutely perfect – they have totally nailed that, and the fabrics are amazing,” she adds. “The cashmere actually gets better as it’s washed more. So, we decided to keep the shapes the same and then deconstruct them – not reconfigure them, but just expose the seams or add a little detail, almost like graffiti on the arm. We wanted to keep them the same but basically mess them up a little bit.”
“It was a really simple approach – we wanted to keep what they are brilliant at and then add a bit of us to that.”
The collection is a perfect example of elevated basics, and nods to the growing movement that Hindmarch has seen with her own customer, and with herself personally, in choosing to only buy versatile and timeless pieces that will be in your wardrobe for a very long time.
“I love that Uniqlo calls their clothes Lifewear because I think that attitude is really important. I am all about responsible shopping and buying pieces that are made to last and will be worn for a lifetime.”
These are considered purchases that are easy to style, but, at the same time, Hindmarch knows that what people are looking for with fashion – especially her’s – is that hit of dopamine, and that’s exactly what she wants to give them.
“For me, the whole point of fashion is to change your mood because nobody needs another piece of clothing to cover their body – we’ve all got everything we need for the rest of our lives. The point of fashion is to make you feel happy or to make you feel confident, that’s what interests me about fashion – it is the mood and confidence-altering aspects. And that’s exactly what I wanted to do with this collection, I wanted to bring a little joy.”
