subject: Stella Mccartney And Her Fabulous Shoes [print this page] One of the most desired fashion accessories at the moment is a pair of Stella McCartney shoes or one of her fabulous handbags, which is very much a sign of the times when you consider that McCartney, like her mother before her, is a strict vegetarian and campaigner of animal rights. Do the fashion industry and animal rights really go hand in hand? Well, they do with Stella.
Born September 13th 1971, and daughter of Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, Stella was determined to make her own career and went to state school, and at the age of 15 she had the opportunity to work with Christian Lacroix on his first couture collection. She followed school with attendance at Londons Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design from, where she graduated in 1995. She was independent by the time she was in college and her graduation show was attended by her parents and featured her supermodel friends Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, and she subsequently launched her label in the same year.
McCartney was appointed chief designer at Paris ready-to-wear fashion house Chloe in 1997, and her first collection was hailed a triumph. In 2000 she not only designed Madonnas wedding dress but was also presented with VH1/Vogue Designer of the Year Award by her father and in 2001 she resigned from Chloe after four years to work with Gucci on her own label, and the line opened three stores.
In 2003 Stella added perfume to her brand. Stella is now married to ex-publisher of Wallpaper magazine and founder of the British design company Established & Sons, Alasdhair Willis, with whom she has two sons Miller, four, and Beckett, one, and one daughter Bailey, two. They spend their weekdays in west London and weekends in a Georgian house on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border.
In 2005, McCartney designed a range of clothing for H&M to boost public awareness of her own brand and to create more affordable options for her fans. The line was released in November of that year and sold out almost immediately on launch day, due to the similarity between her expensive main line and the H&M line.
In January 2007, Stella launched skincare line CARE, a 100% organic line which includes seven products, from a cleansing milk made with lemon balm and apricot to green tea and linden blossom floral water.
It is now rumoured that McCartney is to collaborate with ex-Smiths frontman Morrissey on a leather-free shoe collection. The designer has never used leather or fur in any of her collections since she started making clothes and is known for her rigorous stance on the matter.
She believes that designers should get information and make adult decisions and should try to avoid or simply avoid using any animal products. It is not a huge task. As far as she is concerned the same principle should go for the food industry, the beauty industry and the fashion industry. As she states: "Billions of animals are killed every year for ridiculous things. A lot of it just gets thrown in the bin".
