How Fashion Is Coming Down To Earth

In fashion, a kind of paradigm shift is taking place, with the old markers—exclusivity, luxury, aspiration—now being joined by ingenuity, affordability, and accessibility: It’s the democratization of fashion. There’s Waight Keller taking the reins at Uniqlo, while Zac Posen is ushering in a new era at the Gap. Meanwhile, the come-up of not-inexpensive labels like Toteme and The Frankie Shop is making chic clothes somewhat more attainable. (The pieces you see here—a mix of classic Americana, young designer conceptualism, and athletic flourishes—range from $7 to the still-substantial, gotta-sleep-on-it $1,000.)

By 2020, Waight Keller had begun to grow restless at Givenchy. “There was a dramatic shift for me in terms of where fashion was going,” she says. Last September, she joined the Japanese brand Uniqlo as creative director. “I thought, well: This is an opportunity to work with a company that is globally recognized to be hugely innovative and qualitative, even though they are catering to a really large audience. That was something that felt right,” she says. “Maybe,” she adds, “I was seeing something ahead of the curve.”

Waight Keller’s Uniqlo: C Collection offers a variety of classic pieces, from cashmere cardigans to puffers, at a price so reasonable it’s almost baffling. “That, for me, meant almost as much as when I was designing for luxury brands,” she says. “If anything, my impact as a designer is far greater here than anywhere else.”