Stella McCartney: Making A Name For Herself
By Sarah Stefanson May 3, 2010
Stella McCartney with Kate Moss, Photo: Antoon's Foobar - Flickr
You won’t see any leather or fur on a Stella McCartney runway. The famously vegetarian designer has stuck to her guns over the years and refused to use materials that necessitate killing animals. Growing up as the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney and his first wife, Linda, respecting animal rights was instilled in her at a young age. Being the offspring of a former Beatle also gave her the ability to stand up for her values, no matter what was at stake. Another designer may have felt pressured to back down, but McCartney could always take risks in her career, knowing that if everything went wrong, she had plenty to fall back on.
It sure doesn’t hurt to have a world famous musician from one of the best bands of all time as your father when you’re starting a career in a creative field like fashion design. Not every graduate of the fashion design program at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design can call on family friends like Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon and Kate Moss when putting together her graduation fashion show. These supermodel friends walked the runway wearing McCartney’s graduation collection for free in 1995. The line was quickly picked up by a London boutique. After her next collection, Chloe, a Paris fashion house, took notice. McCartney was named Creative Director at Chloe in 1997, a position once held by Karl Lagerfeld. Though much of the fashion community was skeptical of her abilities, including Lagerfeld himself, McCartney used her time at Chloe to start proving them wrong.
Gucci Group offered McCartney the opportunity to start a fashion house under her own name in 2001. According to a 2009 story in guardian.co.uk, McCartney wanted to drop her prominent last name from the title of the collection and call it simply, “Stella,” but Gucci insisted that the famous moniker stay. The Stella McCartney house launched its first collection in October of 2001.
McCartney has tried her hand at designing ready-to-wear, accessories, lingerie, eyewear, fragrance and skincare. She added sportswear to her repertoire with a partnership with adidas. “adidas by Stella McCartney” features clothing for running, yoga, swimming and other activities. Recently, she has moved into children’s clothing with a line in collaboration with The Gap, which will be sold at GapKids and babyGap stores. She has also announced plans to design Alice in Wonderland themed jewellery for Disney.
Stella McCartney products became more ubiquitous than ever when she decided to create more affordable versions of her clothing for retailers like H&M and Target. These collections caused a frenzy among her fans and sold out in record time. In addition to the clothing and department stores that carry her lines, there are 16 Stella McCartney stores around the world including flagship shops in Manhattan, London, Los Angeles and Paris.
McCartney has been honoured as a designer and an activist by organizations and publications such as VH1, Fashion Group International, Elle, the British Style Awards and Glamour magazine. She is passionate about promoting vegetarianism and eliminating the use of fur in the fashion industry, as well as devoting time and money to charitable organizations that fight cancer, the disease that took her mother at a young age.
The lessons she learned from her parents—respect for animals, the value of creativity—are still major influences on her to this day. There is one area, however, where her own parenting techniques vary from those of her parents. McCartney is adamant that her children, Miller, Bailey and Beckett, will not be attending state schools like she did as a child, where she says she experienced bullying. She and her husband, British publisher Alasdhair Willis, have chosen to raise their children in London and send them to private schools.
When she’s not working or enjoying time with her family, McCartney is collaborating with her famous friends on pieces for their weddings, concert tours and movies. She designed Madonna’s wedding gown for her 2000 nuptials with Guy Ritchie. Madonna also asked her to design costumes for her Re-Invention Tour. McCartney has done costume design for Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law in their film, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and outfitted one of Annie Lennox’s tours.
Starting out in a life of privilege and fame certainly contributed to Stella McCartney’s success over the years, but she has also worked hard to earn her own notoriety in the fashion world, earning herself the nickname, “Unstoppable Stella Steel.”
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Submitted on May 3, 2010 in Who's Who.
Sarah is our Western Canadian correspondent. She recently left a long-standing position as editor and writer for TheSoko.com, DriverSense.com & LiveDress.com to focus on book and novel writing. Sarah continues contribute weekly articles to AskMen.ca and Models & Moguls. Sarah thinks she might have been a model if it weren’t for the blessing of Slavic hips and thighs.
Sarah Stefanson has contributed 64 articles to Models & Moguls.
