Stella Stole It

Country side London has always been revolutionary in the most fashionable way possible. Look at the endless novels that arrive from the countryside. Stella was no exception. Although revolutionary, Stella stuck to depicting her emotions through clothes and luxury fashion in particular. Her parents belonged to the creative filed of art, music and photography so it was natural that Stella was an artistic child since the beginning. And if we’ve noticed anything from the show, Next in Fashion is that Central Saint Martins is the best place to learn fashion and come out as a great designer. The opportunities are endless. Stella being a vegetarian all her life always wanted to involve that part of her in her work. Hence her clothes and accessories are leather and fur free. She is now a successful women in the world of sustainable fashion with 50+ stores across the world including places like Milan, Tokyo, Paris, LA, Manhattan etc. She first started her career being the creative director of Chloé in Paris.

Beginning of Stella McCartney

October 2001 was the time when Stella first launched her own fashion house in her name; Stella McCartney in a partnership with Kering as a 50/50 joint venture. Her first collection was debuted in Paris. Her collection features women’s and men’s ready to wear items, accessories, lingerie, eyewear, kids collection and her own fragrance line. She started her fragrance line in 2003 with the launch of her first perfume, ‘STELLA’. She continued the line in 2016 by launching a very bold and irreverent fragrance for women called POP, depicting new generation of women. She started diversifying into sportswear when she signed a long term partnership with Adidas in 2004 for expanding base into running, gym, yoga, tennis, swimming, winter, sports and cycling.

The spirit continued in 2012 when she was appointed the team GB’s creative director by Adidas for the Olympic summer games. She was one of the first leading designer to design apparels for a country’s team.

In 2008 she went ahead with an aspirational collection of lingerie that empowered women and made them feel bold and sexy. Winter of 2010 was the time when the iconic Fabella bag came into existence and it still is the best existing tote bag to go ahead with. The sexy chain stitch at the ends of the bag is timeless in the world of fashion. She is extremely eco- friendly and her collection of sunglasses adapted the same ensemble since 2011.

Stella’s sustainable approach

Sustainability was always of the utmost importance to Stella. Fashion being the complete opposite industry; she made it her mission. “The starting point is not Design. The starting point is Sustainability”- Stella McCartney. Sustainability does come by just announcing campaigns on socials.

The right approach is to find alternative materials to replace every bit of waste. Stella McCartney is known to use very innovative alternatives for their products. Engineered spider silk, mushroom leather, recycled plastic from ocean non- toxic dyes, recycled polyester from plastic bottles, recycled fishing nets used to make Eco nylon. One of the widely spoken material Stella McCartney is responsible for developing is skin free skin. It’s made of polyester and polyurethane which is then coated with vegetable oil. Fur free fur is made and spun from organic fibres. The collection launched Stan Smith sneakers that was made of entirely vegan leather and the glue and dyes were swapped with animal- free alternatives. The brand continues to work with several start- ups to break down the complexity of sustainability. An important thing to do after material sourcing is to verify it by certified and educated professionals.

“My job is to make desirable, luxurious, beautiful clothing and accessories women want to buy. My first decision is always based on, ‘Can I do this in a more sustainable way without sacrificing design?’ If I can, then there is no reason not to.” - Stella McCartney. As of mid 2019 Stella McCartney announces their partnership with LVMH to continue producing ethical luxury fashion.

Pandemic and plethora of changes

The pandemic surely affected the going of the business. The shift from its neutral blacks to trippy and bold colours with cyber textures became part of her new collection which was no less than a brand relaunch in 2021 fall. Stella McCartney was going through a transition and fresh colours enabled a fresh start or even a rebirth of the brand. The brand is young and fresh and will continue to idealise on matters important at present and present it through what they do best… sustainable luxury ensemble.