Christopher Kane: Mulberry’s Heritage Is a Foundation, Not a Limitation

Imran Amed (0:05)

Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion. Welcome to the BoF Podcast. It's Friday, September 18th.

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. This was the man who put rubberized lace on the runway, who cut up saddle leather on a domestic sewing machine, and who found his ideas in the least obvious places. This Sunday, Christopher returns to London Fashion Week as Mulberry's creative director of Women's Wear.

It's an unlikely pairing. Mulberry means Somerset leather, country houses, and the bags everyone remembers from the brand's buzzy Alexa Chung years. Christopher'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 nearly two decades.

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. Christopher'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.

Christopher Kane (1:44)

Because for me, heritage is a foundation, it's not a limitation. So we've really worked with the heritage and taking parts of existing bags or things that have really resonated with the brand throughout the years to create something.

Imran Amed (1:58)

A few days before his debut at Mulberry, Christopher sat down with BoF's editor-at-large, Tim Blanks, who has followed his work since the beginning. They talk about the acts in his Instagram teasers and what his years away from fashion has taught him.

Here's Christopher Kane in conversation with Tim Blanks on the BoF Podcast.

Tim Blanks (2:21)

Christopher Kane.

Christopher Kane (2:23)

Tim.

Tim Blanks (2:24)

Can we call this a comeback?

Christopher Kane (2:27)

Yeah, I suppose. We're here at Mulberry, so it's been my first job since closing the company. So yeah, it's a bit of a comeback.

Tim Blanks (2:36)

Because I'm so happy. So happy to say welcome back.

Christopher Kane (2:39)

Thank you.

Tim Blanks (2:40)

I do love the little teasers you put on Instagram with the axe chopping at the tree.

Imran Amed (2:45)

Yeah.

Tim Blanks (2:47)

You posted that image twice.

Christopher Kane (2:49)

Three times.

Imran Amed (2:49)

Three times?

Tim Blanks (2:50)

Okay, I only saw it twice.

Tell me that. Tell me about that. What's the background of that? What's that story?

Christopher Kane (2:58)

So I think you've known me for a long time. I've always been very obsessed with science and nature and the whole idea of the tree and the idea of the upkeep of a tree and the maintenance of a tree. Obviously, I'm working from Mulberry, which is a tree.

So I really looked into the preservation of trees and things like that. So to produce better fruit, you have to fell it. You have to maintain it. You have to cut it back. So the axe was obviously one of the main tools as a tree surgeon to help trees maintain a healthy life cycle. So you have to produce more fruit. You have to cut back.

Tim Blanks (3:35)

So Christopher Kane, designer slash arborist.

Christopher Kane (3:38)

Yes, yes, and jam maker. Well, I've not got there yet, but that's coming up with the Mulberry berries. There's a lot of things you can do with the berries for sure.

Tim Blanks (3:48)

But the axe is a motif in the collection. That seems so significant that it made me think that maybe the axe was connected with the collection, the idea of the axe was connected with the collection. So it's like a kind of chopping down or pruning or whatever.

Christopher Kane (4:04)

Which is a good point of reference because 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. I think I've learned that over 20 years in the business of really having heavy edit and just always trying and trying to be precise. But yeah, the axe is something quite symbolic for me, in that sense, yeah.

Tim Blanks (4:30)

I've been reading back over your interviews over the year, and I have to tell you, you gave a very good quote. But one of the things that I was interested in, in connection to this new role for you, is when you said people just want newness.