FASHION
Stella McCartney: A Lifetime of Eco-Activism
BY ANNA PRESTON
20 FEBRUARY 2021
Image Credit: The Telegraph
Stella Nina McCartney, born on the September 13th, 1971, to ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his late wife, animal activist Linda; spent the majority of her childhood travelling with her family for her parents’ band Wings or on their farm in the English countryside.
“I grew up on an organic farm; my parents were vegetarians.” She told Vogue in 2019.
McCartney graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1995, with supermodel friends Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell modelling her clothing collection.
​
Two years later she was appointed the Creative Director of Chloé, replacing Karl Lagerfeld; and introducing a fur and leather ban to the French brand, much to the chagrin of critics.
“Livestock production is one of the major causes of... global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution and loss of biodiversity,” she told journalist Dana Thomas.
​
McCartney launched her eponymous luxury fashion house in 2001, the first luxury vegetarian brand, with the help of Gucci Group; later to become Kering. A pivotal moment in the industry as the Brit vowed to never use fur, leather, skin or feathers in her designs.
“I was told: ‘You’re never going to have a healthy accessories business with non-leather.’ I’ve proven that wrong.” She told Thomas.
​
​
Image Credit: Style
Since then, she has gone onto collaborate with brands like H&M and Adidas; working with the sportswear mogul on sustainable athleisurewear since 2004, together they designed the kits for Great Britain’s Olympic team in 2012 and 2016.
Following her departure from Kering in 2018, McCartney partnered with LVMH in 2019 and became the personal sustainability advisor to Chief Executive Bernard Armault, telling AFP, “My mum used to say infiltrate from within.”
​
Now celebrating 20 years of her brand, reflecting on her achievements, she told Elle, “In 2010 we stopped using PVC which is by far the most toxic of all plastics. In 2016 we hit two milestones: we stopped using virgin cashmere and introduced sustainable viscose. Regenerated cashmere has about 7 times lower impact than virgin cashmere. Viscose comes from trees, and our sustainable viscose ensures that no deforestation occurs.
“We must stop and consider the waste. We should buy less and buy better.”