Christopher Kane: Mulberry’s Heritage Is a Foundation, Not a Limitation
Christopher Kane discusses his return to fashion as Mulberry's creative director for womenswear after closing his independent label. He explains how he views Mulberry's heritage as a foundation rather than limitation, drawing inspiration from British subcultures, his Scottish upbringing, and the strong women who influenced him, while maintaining his signature approach of sourcing ideas from unexpected sources.
Summary
Christopher Kane, the renowned designer who closed his 17-year-old independent label, makes his comeback as Mulberry's creative director for womenswear at London Fashion Week. In conversation with Tim Blanks, Kane discusses his philosophy on heritage and creativity, explaining that he sees Mulberry's rich history not as restrictive but as a starting point for innovation. He describes using the metaphor of tree maintenance and pruning to explain his editorial approach—cutting back to produce better results.
Kane reflects on his formative influences, particularly his upbringing in Motherwell, Scotland, in an industrial town surrounded by strong women including his mother and sister Tammy. He explains how this background, combined with street culture and youth subcultures he witnessed, shaped his design sensibilities and his resistance to following fashion rules. He credits his Central Saint Martins professor Louise Wilson with instilling in him the importance of being "10 steps ahead" and avoiding the middle ground—designs should be loved or hated, never mediocre.
The designer discusses his early career practices, including sourcing materials from unexpected places like Ridley Road Market and cutting saddle leather on a domestic sewing machine. He emphasizes that his creative strength has always been drawing from unlikely sources and maintaining unpredictability. For the Mulberry collection, Kane incorporates his signature elements—references to his childhood, Catholic school uniforms, television and film influences, and the recurring archetype of the "bad girl." He notes the collection features a grounded tonal color palette with unexpected color combinations.
Kane addresses the changes in fashion and his own evolution. He expresses optimism about the industry despite concerns about commercialism, noting that creative talent exists globally. He discusses his time away from fashion after closing his label, describing how the period allowed him to gain perspective, create art, and step off the "hamster wheel." However, he clarifies that his return to Mulberry is intentional and measured, done on his own terms rather than out of desperation. He emphasizes the importance of music in his shows as a coded element and hints at unexpected elements while maintaining mystery about specific details. Throughout, Kane maintains that his core approach—looking at things you're not supposed to look at and celebrating the taboo—remains unchanged.
About this episode
<p>In 2023, Christopher Kane did what no independent designer ever wants to do. He closed the label he had spent 17 years building with his sister, Tammy Kane. This was the man who put rubberised lace on the runway, who cut up saddle leather on a domestic sewing machine, and who found his ideas in the least obvious places.</p><p>This Sunday, Kane returns to London Fashion Week as Mulberry’s creative director of womenswear.</p><br /><p>It's an unlikely pairing. Mulberry means Somerset leather, country houses and the bags everyone remembers from the brand’s buzzy Alexa Chung years. Kane’s world has always been more subversive: Catholic school uniforms, the strong women who raised him in Motherwell and the "bad, cool girls" who have run through his work for two decades. </p><br /><p>But Mulberry needs something new. Two years ago, it was fending off a takeover bid, cutting nearly a quarter of its corporate roles and seeing sales slide. Under chief executive Andrea Baldo, Mulberry is rebuilding itself around Britishness and craft, and there are early signs it's working. Sales rose 23 percent in the first quarter of this financial year. </p><br /><p>Kane’s first fashion show is the next and most visible test of that strategy. He sees the job as an extension of his idiosyncratic design sensibilities.</p><p>A few days before the show, Kane sat down with BoF's editor-at-large, Tim Blanks, who has followed his work since the beginning. They talk about the axe in his Instagram teasers and what his years away from fashion has taught him.</p><br /><p><strong>Key Insights:</strong></p><ul><li>Pruning your work as a design philosophy: Kane has been posting images of an axe chopping a tree ahead of the show — a reference, he says, to arboriculture and to his own process. "I have been editing heavily and pruning, as you would say, to fine-tune this really clear message, but also having a blade-like precision," he says. "I think I've learned over 20 years in the business, of really having a heavy edit and just always trying to be precise."</li></ul><p><br /></p><ul><li>Mulberry’s mix of Britishness: Mulberry was never a status bag where Kane grew up; it was a football casual brand. Long before Alexa Chung and the brand's golden moment, Kane knew Mulberry as one label among many worn by football casuals in Motherwell. "Mulberry was definitely present when I was growing up, but it wasn't the obvious bag," he says. "It was the rugby shirt or the football T-shirt" — worn alongside labels like Burberry as "an amalgamation of street culture, youth culture."</li></ul><p><br /></p><ul><li>A failed business teaches you things a successful one never will: Kane is candid about what the two years since his label's closure gave him. "That time off really gave me perspective into what I really wanted in life," he says. "The highs are there, but they're very short-lived. And the lows are there, and they're also short-lived." He's blunt, too, about an industry that rarely acknowledges its casualties: "No one ever sees that, what designers and creatives go through, because it's a tough game, but for some reason we're truly addicted to it and we love it."</li></ul><p><br /></p><ul><li>Every collection is autobiography: Kane says the Mulberry collection carries the same personal references that defined his own work — Catholic school uniforms, the "bad, cool girls" of his Motherwell childhood, the women in his family who raised him. "Every collection I've done has always been a bit of an autobiographical look to my life or my childhood," he says. </li></ul><p><br /></p><p><strong>Additional Resources:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/briefings/fashion-week/is-london-fashion-week-regaining-its-lustre/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Is London Fashion Week Back in Action? | BoF</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/luxury/christopher-kane-mulberry-andrea-baldo/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Christopher Kane Joins Mulberry to Power Ready-to-Wear Relaunch | BoF</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/luxury/mulberry-quarterly-sales-jump-23-as-turnaround-gathers-pace/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Mulberry Quarterly Sales Jump 23% as Turnaround Gathers Pace | BoF</strong></a></li></ul><p><br /></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
Key Insights
- Kane argues that heritage should be a foundation for innovation rather than a limitation, allowing designers to honor brand history while moving it forward significantly
- Kane contends that growing up in an industrial town surrounded by strong women who didn't follow fashion rules gave him the confidence to reject conventional design approaches throughout his career
- Kane claims that his professor Louise Wilson's teaching—that designers must be 'ten steps ahead' and avoid the middle ground—created a competitive drive that shaped his entire design philosophy
- Kane asserts that sourcing materials from unconventional places like discount markets and using inappropriate materials creatively was a strength because it forced original thinking
- Kane states that stepping away from his independent label during difficult times allowed him to gain perspective and realize he didn't need to remain on the 'hamster wheel' of constant seasonal pressure
- Kane argues that British culture uniquely provides resources for exploring things 'you're not meant to look at,' citing historical figures and subcultures as inspiration
- Kane contends that the fashion industry still requires a 'pyramid' structure with creative gems at the top to feed commerce below, and creative talent continues to emerge globally despite concerns
- Kane maintains that his core characteristic—exploring taboo subjects and looking at things fashion vocabulary doesn't typically include—remains unchanged and is essential to his identity as a designer
Topics
Transcript
I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. While employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work, and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English, and it's built. No drag and drop workflows, no expensive consultants. Employees get unblocked, and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company. This is a new way to run IT. We guarantee you'll automate 50% of all…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from The Business of Fashion Podcast
Feed Me's Emily Sundberg on How Fashion Underestimates Its Customers
Emily Sundberg, founder of Feed Me newsletter, discusses building an independent media business from scratch on Substack with a paywall from day one. She covers how she curates content about New York's business and cultural landscape, why fashion brands underestimate their consumers' intelligence, and the challenges of running a multi-revenue business while maintaining editorial integrity.
Fashion’s Latest Obsession: The Grocery Store
Fashion brands are increasingly partnering with gourmet grocery stores like Erewhon, Meadow Lane, and Happier Grocery to create experiential marketing activations that blend food, wellness, and lifestyle. These collaborations offer brands a way to engage consumers in sensory, tangible environments amid digital fatigue, though success requires authentic brand-store alignment and meaningful community connection rather than surface-level photo opportunities.