"Uniqlo has grown over the years for me," Birtwell told us of her decision to work with the Japanese high street label. "I've always thought that they are very good at doing men's basics and at designing simple shapes. We had a very peaceful initial meeting, which was very appealing. I did think though, 'They could really do with a good print.' And that's how it began."
Uniqlo first became interested in Birtwell after seeing her Topshop collaboration, which first launched in 2006. The collection started out as solely T-shirts, but soon led to a larger-scale project.
"I showed them my archive and a selection of new designs and we went from there," said Birtwell. "Uniqlo were charming people to work with and had very sympathetic take on print. I like to amuse myself with my prints and they were receptive to that."
Birtwell first became widely-known in the Sixties, when she worked with then-husband Ossie Clark as a textiles designer - together dressing some of the decade's most famous, from the Rolling Stones and Jimmy Hendrix to Twiggy and Marianne Faithful. She hopes that her Uniqlo range will bring her work to a new audience.
"It's very young and fresh," she said. "There's an accent of youth and something for every generation. There's understated prints and bolder ones, I hope it will cater for a broad range of people, in the same way my Topshop line did."
The project is also in keeping with what Birtwell sees as one of the most appealing aspects of Sixties style and fashion - low prices.
"Fashion is such a big business now," she said. "There was a real innocence about it then and an element of post-war austerity. No one would have paid £1,000 for a bag. It was much more democratic - things had to be affordable."
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ELLA ALEXANDER | 11 MARCH 2013 | Article Link
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