The Spring/Summer 2023 collection is a modern interpretation of British preppy style and traditional sports of British universities. What inspired this theme and how did you translate it into LifeWear?
For this season, we were really looking at heritage sportswear and how to translate it. We wanted to reinterpret it, blending it more with modern sportswear and the technical materials that UNIQLO has incredible capabilities in.
The collection references badminton, tennis, rugby, and rowing. Did you play sports as a student?
I’ve always had an interest in sports and athletes, but I haven’t participated too much in them myself. My dad was a rugby player, so I did attempt to play when I was younger, but I have a bad memory of the experience–it was a catastrophe.
Are there new silhouettes, techniques, and designs you explored within this collection?
Ultimately, this season is reworking our idea of classic sportswear–for instance, a traditional cricket jumper alongside technical sports leggings, or hand-drawn traditional British sporting team motifs on technical swim shorts, and more traditional knitted polo shirts.
AirSense is one of UNIQLO’s most popular, high-performance fabrics; it’s so light and easy to move in. How did you approach creating a classic tailored jacket from this unique fabric?
We really wanted to include the vintage sports jackets associated with rowing teams in this collection. We then wanted to introduce a new take on this classic jacket, reworking it into a more lightweight iteration, by using modern, technical fabrics and execution.
What are your styling tips for the AirSense jacket in both the men’s and women’s collections?
With each collection, we expand the JW ANDERSON and UNIQLO wardrobe with pieces that can be mixed throughout the season. It’s wardrobe building. The AirSense jacket in particular–it’s such an updated fit and modern material. It can be styled with something as simple as some casual jeans and yet still feels really modern.
What are your favourite pieces from this collection?
My favourite pieces are the updated sports jackets and the tennis dress, which we’ve reinterpreted and given a JW ANDERSON twist. I really like the idea of taking a classic and simplifying or modernising it with a twist.
You cast real groups of friends, teammates and students for the campaign to bring the collection to life. Tell us about the concept for the shoot.
For the collection shoot, we really wanted to keep the creative and casting in line with the inspiration behind the collection: to ultimately keep it within the realm of sportswear and retain the sense of belonging that naturally accompanies that.