Stella McCartney | My Camden

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Stella McCartney

Profession: Fashion Designer
Place/Date of Birth: London, 13 September 2020
Associated with: Sir Paul McCartney

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The fashion designer is believed to have accepted a £500.000 deal to stay with Paris fashion house Chloë. Since she took over from Karl Lagerfeld in 1997, she has been a massive success with sales that increased by almost 500 per cent.

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Biography

Stella McCartney was born in 1972, the daughter of ex-Beatle Sir Paul and Linda McCartney. She first hit the headlines herself in 1995, when she graduated from London’s Central St Martins College of Art & Design. Her graduation show, attended by her super-famous parents, featured pals Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss modelling her clothes on the catwalk.

Unsurprisingly, the student show became front page news around the world and the entire collection was snapped up by London boutique Tokio. She launched her eponymous label the same year. Despite her new-found celebrity, McCartney had already served a long apprenticeship in fashion. At 15, she worked with Christian Lacroix on his first couture collection and later spent several years learning her craft on Savile Row. McCartney was appointed chief designer at the French couture house Chloë in March 1997. Succeeding Karl Lagerfeld in one of the most high profile posts in the industry, McCartney’s appointment was viewed by many as simply an astute publicity stunt on the part of Chloë’s owners, the Vendome group. However, her first collection for the house, shown in Paris in October 1997, quickly dispelled any doubts about her talent. Sensual and romantic, the collection teamed lacy petticoat skirts with fine tailoring and was hailed a triumph. Her delicate camisoles and Nineties updates of the Seventies trousersuit fast became the talk of the catwalk circuit.

The following season, Chloë execs proved that her efforts had not only raised the house’s profile, but had lifted its profits too. Following her mother’s death in April 1998, Stella took up her fight against the maltreatment of animals. A month later, during Fur Fashion Week, she teamed up with PeTA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - to release a video championing animal rights. In April 2000, she renewed her contract with Chloë, amid reports that she had turned down the offer of a position at rival house Gucci, because Gucci would have required her to work with leather. She may have torn up the grey carpets of her new office in Paris to make it of a parquet-floored home away from home; but, to Stella McCartney, there really is no place like it.

In fact, rather than move entirely from her beloved studio-flat in London’s W11, the Chloë designer has merely upgraded to a £695,000 white stucco, four-floor family house with a miniature roof terrace down the road. Her vibe is undeniably west London. Written in 2000
October 2007