TOKYO — For her latest initiative as Uniqlo global brand ambassador, Cate Blanchett is helping to launch “Stories She Tells,” a literary magazine featuring essays that highlight women’s experiences and perspectives through storytelling.
In a release, Uniqlo said that the project, its first-ever literary magazine, “aims to share diverse voices and perspectives across genders and generations, fostering new dialogue and connections.”
The theme for the inaugural issue, scheduled to be published in autumn of 2027, will be “Connection,” highlighting connections between people, shared experience, and each person’s story within society, according to Uniqlo’s release.
Essays will be chosen through an open call, with Blanchett as chair of the selection committee.
Through the project, select contributors will also receive support for their writing activities and opportunities for mentorship. In addition, the brand plans to include in the magazine academic research papers and literary works related to the theme.
Launching through a partnership with the University of Tokyo, the project aims to expand globally through partnerships with universities around the world in the future.
Blanchett told WWD on Thursday that the project had emerged from conversations with Koji Yanai, group senior executive officer of Uniqlo’s parent Fast Retailing and son of the founder Tadashi Yanai.
“We started talking about shared passions, probably about a year ago. And we were talking about different forms of expression,” Blanchett said. “Koji and I obviously share a great love of film, but we all imbibe literature. And I think we’re interested in surprising art forms that perhaps a broader community doesn’t have access to.”
“There are so many stories out there that we have discovered cinematically that don’t reach the mainstream — and of course, even though women represent over half of the world’s population, their stories are often kept out of the mainstream,” the actress continued. “Given Uniqlo’s platform, we started to talk about that perhaps we could help to bring and engender confidence for female literary expression, given that Uniqlo already has an incredible reach globally, and is grounded here in Japan, obviously.”
Plus, the brand already edits its own magazine so they are “not new to that sort of form of publication as a part of their business,” she added.
At a press conference at the University of Tokyo, Blanchett was joined on stage by two students of the university as well as Kaori Hayashi, executive vice president and profession at the university, and writer and poet Mieko Kawakami. The actress read a passage from Kawakami’s novel “Breasts and Eggs,” as well as “Belonging” by Clarice Lispector, writers she described as two of her favorites.
“I read a lot. I peddle in language as an actor, and for my own work you never know where the source of connection or inspiration is going to come from,” Blanchett said. “Sometimes it’s a painting or a phrase of music. Sometimes it’s a piece of poetry, or something you’ve read in a memoir or a novel. In my notes in my phone, I’m constantly writing things that I have read, because you never know.”
She recalled how her friend, the late Australian author Frank Moorhouse, had “a system where he’d read something, or see something, or think something, and he’d write it down on a card and catalog it.”
“And so whenever he was writing, he would pull from those memories,” she continued. “For me, it’s often not until I write something down that I remember to recall it later on. And so that’s what I loved about the analog nature of putting it down in the written word, inviting people to slow down, to connect and try to remember what it is they’re reading, and that someone has taken the time to write it.”
Eiko Sherba, sustainability marketing director for Uniqlo, spoke about the decision to partner with global universities on the project.
“ It is partly about women’s voices, but we also wanted to make more use of young people’s energy. And we are not only speaking from a corporate standpoint; we wanted to build the program with a solid understanding of women’s empowerment and gender issues from an academic perspective as well. In that sense, a partnership with a university is one important component,” Sherba said.
“ I think successful initiatives work when each of the partners can see an opportunity for them. And what was really interesting in speaking to the professors and the president of the university is they can see a real opportunity for all of their students to engage in an initiative like this,” Blanchett said. “You know, any institution, any creative organization reaches a point of stasis unless they welcome change and new, fresh ideas. And so I think it’s really exciting that they too feel the benefit from something like this, not just the writers themselves. I think everyone stands to benefit from it.”
“Stories She Tells” is the latest project that Blanchett has been involved with in her role with Uniqlo, which she has held for a relatively short time.
“ There’s so much energy within the company. I have an excess of energy that I’m constantly trying to find outlets for, and I feel like so much has happened in the last year that I can’t quite imagine that it’s only been a year,” she said. “It’s really amazing to work with such an enormous company that is so nimble. Often when you work with a big institution, it doesn’t move quickly. But there’s so much passion within the company that I’ve been really excited by that.”
Yanai said that the partnership with Blanchett has been a special one that he hopes will continue for a long time.
“There are a lot of things that we have come to realize through our partnership with Cate, so I really think it’s been a wonderful encounter,” the executive said. “Of course, all of our other ambassadors until now have also been wonderful, but our relationship with Cate has brought us different moments and experiences and stories, which in turn has helped us to learn new things and bring new things to our customers, and this makes us really happy.”