Podcast Summary: The Business of Fashion Podcast

Episode: "What Happens When Women Lead" (December 10, 2025)

Episode Overview

This episode of The Business of Fashion Podcast takes listeners to BoF Voices 2025 for a live debrief exploring the persistent gender gap at fashion’s highest creative levels. Host Imran Amed moderates a candid conversation with Claire Waight Keller (Givenchy, Chloé, Gucci, and now creative director at Uniqlo) and Maria Cornejo (founder of the eponymous New York label). Sheena Butler-Young, BoF Senior Correspondent, contributes probing questions about the paradoxes women face: they are fashion’s core customers and muses, yet rarely hold its chief creative roles. The panelists share personal experiences and challenge industry narratives, all while offering perspective on what’s needed for real change.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Gender Disconnect in Fashion Leadership

Main Theme: Despite women shaping fashion as consumers, muses, and creatives, men dominate top creative roles.

• Statistical Paradox ([02:08] Claire Waight Keller):
  “85% of designers in graduate school are women and only 15% are men. But upon graduating, it switches quite quickly.”
• The shift starts early; many women do not progress up the creative hierarchy.
• Industry Narrative ([02:45] Claire Waight Keller):
  “Men are often seen as the implementers of big change, and women of stability… we’re often cornered into a commercial sense of aesthetic.”

2. Starting Their Own Brands: Circumventing a Broken Pipeline

• Women often start their own businesses rather than enter corporate pipelines they see as inhospitable.
  ([03:29] Sheena Butler Young):
  “They come out of grad school and they start their own brands and they don't enter the pipeline because they probably already can tell it's broken.”
• Maria Cornejo emphasizes the persistence of male-centric corporate cultures, which marginalize or undervalue women designers.

3. The Corporate Culture & Challenges of Work-Life Balance

Male-Centric Structures ([04:51] Claire Waight Keller):
“I’ve worked with predominantly men CEOs… and it’s the same equation in fragrance and beauty. It is a real challenge.”

• Women juggle dynamic personal lives, family planning, and leadership ambitions, often feeling pressure to “gain pace quickly” before having children ([05:58]).

Notable Quote
[06:11] Claire Waight Keller:
“When I was first pregnant, I was working with Tom Ford at Gucci and there was actually no maternity policy in place...I was one of the pioneers in the design team to actually set a maternity policy in place.”

4. Bias and the “Wearability” Euphemism

• Garments by women designers are often labeled “wearable” and “commercial,” not as a compliment but as a coded dismissal.
  ([07:19] Maria Cornejo):
  “When they say it's wearable, they're not meaning you can wear it and that's great. They're saying something else.”

Cornejo’s Perspective:

• She began her business out of necessity as a mother, making stylish, practical clothes for real women.
• Resists trends and Instagram-driven hype; focuses on longevity and integrity:
  ([09:30] Maria Cornejo):
  “It’s about being ageless and feeling ageless… I know I'm older but I don't feel like all of a sudden I become invisible.”

5. Building and Leading Women-First Teams

• Waight Keller makes hiring women a deliberate priority ([10:21]):
  “It's really easy. There's a lot of choice out there… so many women out there with extraordinary talent.”
• She notes that women may take longer to flourish and need safe spaces to do so—a challenge in “business environments with a lot at play.”

Proof of Concept:

• Her all-women team at Uniqlo is successful both commercially and creatively, yet few large houses have followed suit.

6. Industry Resistance and Misaligned Incentives

• Large brands focus on social media metrics, instant “Instagrammable” products, and accessories over real clothes for real women.
  ([13:22] Maria Cornejo):
  “I don't think they're looking at people like me, to be honest. They're more interested in Instagram followers and things like that... there’s a disconnect from what’s actual reality.”

7. Signs of Change & Flashpoints Ahead

• Some leadership appointments spark hope (e.g., Grace Wales Bonner at Hermès, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Sarah Burton at Givenchy).

• Still, actual parity is far off ([15:54] Claire Waight Keller):
  “Right now there's only probably about 30% of the seats held by women. I'd like to at least have it be on equal footing of 50/50.”

• Both guests see change happening in their own spheres, but widespread industry transformation requires more leaders to commit, not just a few high-profile hires.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Early Career Disparities
  [02:08] Claire Waight Keller:
  “85% of the designers who are in graduate school are women… but upon graduating, it switches quite quickly.”

• On Corporate Marginalization
  [03:42] Maria Cornejo:
  “The minute my partner arrived, John Richmond, it’s like I didn’t exist.”

• On Work-Life Balance and Policy Gaps
  [06:11] Claire Waight Keller:
  “When I was first pregnant, I was working with Tom Ford at Gucci and there was actually no maternity policy in place.”

• On the ‘Wearable’ Label
  [07:19] Maria Cornejo:
  “When they say it’s wearable, they’re not meaning you can wear it and that’s great. They’re saying something else.”

• On Ageless Style and Authenticity
  [09:30] Maria Cornejo:
  “It’s about being ageless and feeling ageless… I know I’m older but I don’t feel like all of a sudden I become invisible.”

• On Hiring and Nurturing Women
  [10:21] Claire Waight Keller:
  “It’s really easy [to hire women]... I think women add so much richness into the conversation of clothing.”

• On Industry Blind Spots
  [13:22] Maria Cornejo:
  “I don't think they're looking at people like me. They’re more interested in Instagram followers.”

Key Timestamps

• [02:08] – The paradox of female fashion students vs. industry leadership
• [04:51] – Experiences of male-dominated corporate structures
• [06:11] – Lack of maternity policies and the need for structural change
• [07:19] – The coded language of “wearability” in critiques of women’s work
• [09:30] – Maria Cornejo on mature style, agelessness, and client realities
• [10:21] – Claire Waight Keller on the ease and impact of hiring women
• [13:22] – Industry’s focus on social media vs. substantive fashion offerings
• [15:54] – Signs of hope: recent appointments, but the long road to parity

Conclusion

This episode offers a forthright, insightful look at the barriers women face in ascending to and shaping the top creative roles in fashion. Both Claire Waight Keller and Maria Cornejo illuminate systemic biases, personal coping strategies, and the promise that comes from building women-centered teams and businesses. Ultimately, the conversation affirms that while real change is possible—and even visible in a few corners of the industry—the broader path to equality requires persistence, vision, and leaders willing to transform entrenched narratives.