Refine Results
Loading Filters …
Artist Info
Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney could have easily lived a quiet life in the shadow of her famous parents—former Beatle Paul McCartney and his photographer wife, Linda. Instead, she used her own creative talent to become a highly respected fashion designer. McCartney is admired not just for her chic, wearable clothes, but for her strong principles: a vegetarian, McCartney adamantly refuses to use any fur or leather in her work, including her shoes and bags.
McCartney’s childhood interest in fashion led her to work with both Christian Lacroix and a Savile Row tailor while still in her teens, and in 1995 she graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. The buzz generated by her graduation collection—which featured friends Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss on the runway—allowed her to sell her work and finance her own label. It was in 1997, however, that McCartney really made headlines. At just twenty-five years of age, she was appointed chief designer of the esteemed French ready-to-wear house, Chloé. Early reviews were mixed, but McCartney reenergized Chloé with her youthful, subtly irreverent designs. She left to start her own label in 2001.
The designer’s style is modern, but never trendy. McCartney freely admits to designing what she would like to wear—and she is frequently seen dressed in her own creations. Her taste for feminine, draped silhouettes in dusky hues is balanced by her interest in crisp, sleekly tailored pieces, and she is often lauded for her ability to mix and match seemingly disparate styles into a cohesive look.
Now firmly established as a designer, McCartney has become a respected advocate for positive change within the fashion industry. She is most pleased when customers are unaware that her designs are cruelty-free, and buy them simply for their aesthetic appeal. McCartney’s environmental awareness extends to her increased use of organic materials, low-impact dyes, and carbon-neutral store operations. “It’s my job to question everything around me, every day, and push it forward,” she says, “whether that be a dress or where it’s made.”
