At the age of 12 when she made her first jacket, fashion entrepreneur Stella McCartney showed great potential.
Hired only 18 months out of design school to work for Chloe, Karl Lagerfeld was the first to draw comparisons between McCartney and her Beatle dad, stating: ‘Let’s hope she’s as gifted as her father’.
Within two years she had proved herself, helping Chloe pull in an amazing $421m with her designs. She launched her own label in 2001 and continues to inspire the fashion world with her ethically slanted collections.
McCartney’s first Autumn/Winter collection demonstrated her talent; displaying dresses that mixed crisp tailored designs with an injection of romantic lace and femininity
Innovative
Stella McCartney began her life in the fashion industry studying at London’s Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design and graduated in 1995. Her initial collection was modeled by high-profile friends Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon and Kate Moss, but beyond celebrity endorsements, the clothing was recognised in its own right as being somewhat innovative.
The show made front page news and led to her first appointment as creative director of the Paris fashion house Chloe. Robin Givhan wrote in the Washington Post that under McCartney's direction, “Chloe has not just gotten substantially better. It has been transformed.”
McCartney’s first Autumn/Winter collection demonstrated her talent; displaying dresses that mixed crisp tailored designs with an injection of romantic lace and femininity. She created a sense of the strong female in fashion that began to shape and evolve the field she was working in.
McCartney continued to taste global success as she won the VH1/Vogue Fashion and Music Designer of the Year Award in 2000.
Her rise as a fashion entrepreneur should be inspiring to young fashion designers as it was passion that fueled her success. McCartney states: “I have a vision for the way I want a woman to dress…It's what it looks like on a real person that matters.”
This wearable, but also directional approach is what so many young designers fail to get a hold of. McCartney also overcame the issue of age, another obstacle for young fashion entrepreneurs.
Her dresses became as popular among twentysomethings as they were to women in their 40s and 50s, with her handbags acting as a testament to unique style and individuality.
Inspired greatly by her mother Linda in her advocacy of animal rights, McCartney found a way to unite eccentricity with compassion in her creations. Her eco-conscious manner rejects the use of leather or fur throughout her entire collection, including bags and shoes. McCartney manages to create an air of naturalism driven by her mother’s inspiration.
McCartney’s vision of style is shared with celebrities such as Liv Tyler and Madonna, who requested she design their wedding dresses, along with costumes for concert tours and films. McCartney was not only styling the catwalks, she was blurring the boundaries of models, movies and music. Her fashion lines range from Christian LaCroix couture to H&M modern and Adidas athletic, developing her brand as affordable yet distinctive.
McCartney continued to diversify her brand in collaborations with Target, lingerie label Bendon, and released a line of handbags for LeSportsac. McCartney’s first perfume ‘Stella’ launched in September 2003, and despite a recent legal case to block the launch of new perfume ‘STELLANUDE’ due to trademark disputes, the unstoppable McCartney continues to provide a fragrance to fashion.
The future for McCartney is infinite. It is expected she will launch new lines for GapKids and babyGap in November 2009; now giving children the chance to make their own fashion statement.
Stella McCartney, at only 37-years-old, is an accomplished entrepreneur and a woman that speaks through fashion, and she’ll continue to keep us listening with her idiosyncratic designs.
