UNIQLO launches a literary magazine fronted by Cate Blanchett, with the University of Tokyo as its first partner
UNIQLO is anchoring its first literary magazine project in Japan, naming the University of Tokyo as its launch partner and co-editor before the venture exists anywhere else.
UNIQLO is launching its first literary magazine under a project called "stories she tells," fronted by UNIQLO Global Brand Ambassador Cate Blanchett, who will chair the committee selecting the essays it runs, according to a release from Fast Retailing, UNIQLO's parent, dated October 30. The University of Tokyo (東京大学) is the project's launch partner and its first university partner, with the university's Center for Coproduction of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, known as IncluDE, advising on themes and jointly producing and editing the magazine's content.
The inaugural issue is planned for autumn 2027 around the theme "Connection," combining essays chosen through an open call with academic papers and literary works on the same theme; UNIQLO said selected contributors will receive writing support and mentorship. The open call for submissions begins this winter, with full entry details due around December.
A debut staged in Tokyo
UNIQLO and the University of Tokyo marked the launch with a reading event at the university's General Library, held the day before the announcement and drawing about 50 students along with faculty and media, according to the release. Kaori Hayashi, the university's executive vice president, facilitated a panel that opened with an excerpt from novelist Mieko Kawakami's "Breasts and Eggs," and that also featured two University of Tokyo students, Haruka Ueno and Aki Hoshino, alongside Blanchett, who read an excerpt from Clarice Lispector's essay "Belonging" that she had chosen herself.
"It's a privilege to work with UNIQLO on this targeted new initiative, 'stories she tells', which amplifies the perspectives of female writers," Blanchett said.
A book fair of more than 130 curated titles followed in the plaza outside the library, the release said. Fast Retailing said it hopes the project will expand opportunities for under-represented voices, and University of Tokyo president Teruo Fujii said the partnership reflects the university's commitment to diversity and dialogue.
Anchoring a global ambassador project at the University of Tokyo, rather than at a UNIQLO store or a fashion-week stage, puts an academic institution's name and its diversity-research centre behind UNIQLO's editorial judgment on which essays run, before the magazine exists outside Japan at all. UNIQLO said it may add partners outside Japan later, but the first issue, and the test of how open-call submissions get edited into something UNIQLO is willing to publish, both run through Tokyo first.