Stella McCartney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Stella McCartney
Personal Information
 Name  Stella McCartney
 Nationality  English
 Birth date  September 13, 1971 (age 35)
 Birth place  London
 Education  Central St Martins
Working Life
 Label Name  Stella McCartney

Stella for Adidas

Stella Nina McCartney (born September 13, 1971) is an English fashion designer .

Contents

[edit] Biography

McCartney was born in London, the daughter of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, an American rock music photographer famous for her support of vegetarianism and range of vegetarian food. As a strict vegetarian herself, Stella McCartney does not use fur or leather in her designs and supports PETA [1]. Some of McCartney's designs have text that elaborates on her no animal policy; for example, one of her jackets for Adidas says, "suitable for sporty vegetarians" on the sleeve. Her father is also known for supporting PETA by protesting against designers who use animal fur, and those who wear it.

As a little girl, McCartney travelled the globe with her famous parents and their pop group Wings, along with her siblings: older half-sister Heather (who was legally adopted by Paul McCartney), older sister Mary, and younger brother James. According to Paul McCartney, the name of Wings was inspired by Stella's difficult birth. As his daughter was being born by emergency caesarean section, Paul sat outside the operating room and prayed that she be born "on the wings of an angel." [2] Wings toured from shortly after her birth in 1971 until 1980.

Despite their immense fame, McCartneys wanted their children to lead as normal an existence as possible so Stella and her siblings attended local state school in East Sussex. McCartney said that while attending state school, she was a victim of bullying. [3] She became interested in designing clothes at age 12, when she made her first jacket. Three years later, she interned for Christian Lacroix, working on his first fashion design collection, honing her skills on Savile Row for a number of years.

McCartney studied fashion design at St Martins College of Art & Design in the early 1990s. Her graduation collection in 1995 was modelled by friends and supermodels Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon and Kate Moss - for free - at the graduation runway show. The collection was shown to a song penned by her famous father, called "Stella May Day". [4] The show made front-page news, and the entire collection was sold to Tokio, a London boutique. The designs were licensed to Browns, Joseph, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman-Marcus.

[edit] Chloé, Gucci Group, Adidas, H&M

After two collections, in March 1997 McCartney was appointed chief designer at Paris fashion house Chloé, following in the footsteps of Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld was less than impressed with the house's choice, famously stating: "Chloé should have taken a big name. They did, but in music, not fashion. Let's hope she's as gifted as her father." McCartney's designs enjoyed considerable commercial and critical success. She was accompanied to the design House by her assistant and friend Phoebe Philo, who later took over as design director after Stella McCartney left.

In 2001 she resigned from the house in order to enter into an eponymous joint venture with the Gucci Group. The line has three stores, one in New York City (September 2002), one in Mayfair (April 2004) and one in Los Angeles, which opened in September 2003, when she both opened the store and expanded her brand into perfume on her birthday.

In 2004, she designed clothes for Madonna's Re-Invention Tour, Annie Lennox's summer tour, and Gwyneth Paltrow's and Jude Law's costumes for the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. She also launched a joint-venture line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the corporation in September 2004. This line is a sports performance collection for women called "Adidas by Stella McCartney" [5], and it has been critically acclaimed. [6]The collection includes apparel for swim, gym, running, tennis and wintersports, as well as bags. McCartney's favorite pieces in the collection come with a special reflector keychain. In Spring/Summer 2006, the keychain was in the shape of a pink heart. In Fall/Winter 2006, the keychain was in the shape of a gray wolf's head. In January 2007 Stella McCartney annunced that she will be adding “Gym Yoga” to her sports range for Adidas. “Gym Yoga” spring/summer 2007 collection is inspired by ballet and dance. The collection features double-layered tank tops with deep necklines, low-waisted skinny trousers and lightweight rubber shoes.[1]

Stella McCartney received the VH1/Vogue Designer of the Year award in 2000(not to be confused with the far more prestigious British Designer of the Year, which she has never won). Paul McCartney presented the award to his daughter. She thanked him in her acceptance speech and dedicated the award to her late mother. [7]

In 2005, she designed a range of clothing and accessories for H&M, in another career move previously taken by Karl Lagerfeld, 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 (in many cases, almost direct copies) between her expensive main line and the H&M line.

In January 2007 Stella McCartney launched skin care line called Care. The 100% organic line includes seven products, from cleansing milk to a green-tea-and-linden-blossom floral water.[2]

On March 12, 2007, Stella McCartney's limited edition 42-piece range was released to just 100 Target stores exclusively in Australia. The range was priced from $30 for a silk scarf to $200 for a taffeta trench coat. The collection was made in China. Scenes of near hysteria broke out as women stormed the stores to buy the collection. A problem was "clothing scalpers", who bought up large amounts of the range to resell on Ebay at a high mark-up. [8]

In Spring 2008, Stella will be releasing a line of handbags for LeSportsac. The collection will have 30 to 40 styles and will range from $200 - $250. The collection will consist of travel bags, luggage, baby accessories and bags for mothers with infants and toddlers.The line will be sold at high end retailers, the Los Angeles and New York Stella McCartney stores, select LeSportsac boutiques, and will be available for purchase online.

[edit] Criticism

Some in the press have suggested that McCartney's meteoric rise through the fashion industry was partly due to nepotism. In particular, it has been suggested that Vendome, owners of the Chloé house, appointed her as much for the wave of publicity the appointment would generate as her talent. In recent times, however, most commentators have said that she is entirely capable. Indeed, Vogue magazine wrote that "her first collection for the house Chloé, shown in Paris in October 1997, quickly dispelled any doubts about her talent." [9]However when she left the label and Phoebe Philo remained as design director, the standard of design at Chloe is thought to have improved. This, combined with poor financial and critical performance of her own brand, has led to suggestions that she was "carried" at Chloe by Phoebe Philo. McCartney was an average student at Saint Martins and did not receive a first class degree unlike the other internationally famous Saint Martins Alumni, such as John Galliano and Hussaain Chalyan, adding to the speculation that it was her name rather than her talent which lead to the Chloe appointment. She has little interest in conceptual fashion, preferring easy to wear commercial clothing. Although not really considered a true "artist" she could be commended for at least trying to persue her own independent identity unlike other children from famous parents.

[edit] Personal life

After being linked to singer Lenny Kravitz, she married publisher Alasdhair Willis on 30 August 2003, in a private Roman Catholic chapel at Mount Stuart House, the stately home of the Marquess of Bute. The service was attended by Gwyneth Paltrow, Liv Tyler, Pierce Brosnan and Madonna.[3]

Their first child, son Miller Alasdhair James Willis, was born on 25 February 2005. The baby weighed 7lbs, 7 oz. Their second child, daughter Bailey Linda Olwyn Willis, was born 8 December 2006. The baby weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz. [10]. The couple own a house in London, and a 250-acre farm in Pershore, Worcestershire[4]

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.

[edit] Quotations

  • "I have been struggling furiously all my life to be independent."
  • "I can honestly say this industry hasn't made me neurotic about my looks, except maybe my weight. I hope my clothes kind of reflect that. They're meant to make you feel good, not give you more hang-ups."

[edit] External links and references

  1. ^ Stella McCartney adds “Gym Yoga” collection to her range for Adidas EnjoyFashion, February 09, 2007
  2. ^ CARE by Stella McCartney
  3. ^ http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/stellamccartney/
  4. ^ http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006230304,00.html
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/t/e/Stella_McCartney_851c.html"