Stella McCartney Research

 Stella McCartney is a 49 year old fashion designer who in such a short amount of time managed to accomplish so much and revolutionise the fashion industry. She was well known for being Paul McCartneys daughter but became well known for her fur free and leather free apparel but also for being a vegetarian and using organic products(1). The main reason on why she is so keep on being sustainable is due to her mother Linda McCartney who was the first person to promote vegetarian lifestyle and the fight for animals(2).

In 1997, she was appointed to be the Creative Director of Chloe in Paris where she made great changes and later on proceeded to launch her own fashion house "Stella McCartney" in a partnership with Kering. Her first collection was in Paris in October 2001." Her collections include women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, accessories, lingerie, eyewear, fragrance and kids"(3).

Stella McCartney is also an influencer towards finding alternative sustainable materials. Her first debut was using organic cotton and alternative sequins made of organic PVC. She later on banned using leather and went on to research finding alternative methods of making leather for example from yeast and cellulose. She later on began replacing everything organic and argued for other artists to begin doing so as she stated "its too old" for people to still be using not sustainable materials. She also stated that everyone can use sustainable and organic materials like her as they have the same prices and hers is organic which is much more complicated. She also discovered an alternative method for making the "falabella" bag which is using the root growth of mushrooms. Her largest tribute was making a dress from man made silt using the spider web method. She also showed everyone how seriously she takes her movement by also making her stores organic meaning using recycled and eco friendly materials for her stores worldwide especially for her store in London that has "the cleanest air in London"(4).

The designer relies on the concept that everything has to be able to be recycled. This is what she did with her harm free shoes. Instead of using glue to stick the sole to the bottom of the shoe, that contains fish bones and toxic solvents which are undegradable she uses hooks to hold the shoe together which can be dismantled in order to be recycled in parts. She is also most probably the only designer using recycled plastics, vegetable oils and so on. Stella McCartney also uses biodegradable mannequins that are made from a bioplastic that consists of sugarcane derivatives and the paint is made from renewable organic substances. In addition to harm free trainers McCartney also works with a non profit organisation called Parley for the Oceans in which she uses upcycled ocean plastics for trainers and benches for her stores(5).

Additionally the research goes in more depth as the designer traces the origin of its viscose made of tree fibre. Instead of participating in the act of cutting millions of trees each year to turn them into cellulosic fabric and woven into viscose, Stella takes the pulp that form the cellulosic fabric(6).

Stella McCartney is most famous for her movement in using vegetarian leather. She became interested in this matter as everyone uses leather but do not really bother to know where it comes from. In collaboration with PETA, Stella stated that "skin is the most economically important coproduct of the meat industry". This means that buying leather contributes to slaughtering, dismembering, dehorning, castration and torturing of animals while they are still conscious and not given any painkillers. The Green designer, refuses to be part of this barbaric act or fund these people with no consciousness to other forms of life and instead found another method to produce "leather" not only for animals but for the environment too. Tanning is the process that turns skin into leather. This method include using large amounts of energy and toxic chemicals that in the end end up in the soil and water of neighbourhoods near the factories which oppose major threats towards the wellbeing of humans too(7).Therefore due to Stella's will to be everything sustainable, she found a way of creating and using vegetarian "leather".

Stella McCartney partners up with 'Bolt Threads' which have created Mylo. Mylo is a mushroom leather consortium. It takes approximately two weeks to grow, it emits less greenhouse gases and uses less water and resources than animal leather. As a material it has a remarkable resemblance to leather as it is soft and supple and can take on any colour, finish or emboss(8).

Stella McCartney is so fond of the saying that animals should be friends and not fashion that in the Paris Fashion Week 2020, models walked alongside life sized cows, rabbits, horses and many more. She wanted to embrace this idea in a joyous way but also shine light on this matter again in order for people to also see the issue but for more brands to be inspired(9).

some of the animals

the cow which was the main statement

            Stella McCartney's vegetarian leather     vs   Real leather

As you can see from above there is absolutely no difference, just that McCartneys is cruelty free and animal free.

Stella McCartney

                                          

                                             Stella McCartney x Bolt threads mushroom leather

This research has informed my research for my set project as i am now informed for the different alternative methods for normal materials which are not sustainable. Also i have been inspired by Stella McCartney's mindset and determination to inspire and educate people about the cruelty that involves the making of materials for the fashion industry including the environment and animals. I will be including this research about vegetarian leather in my research for my set project and collection. Sustainability has now become a major and important thing for me as i found out about the horrors of fast fashion. Growing up i was never a vegetarian but i always felt bad about the killing of animals to either eat them or turn them into clothing. This must be stopped and i fully agree with the British designer as god created each one of us to co-exist. Why should anyone have the right to torture an animal to wear it? Or even worse cut down trees to make shoes or generate power and release fossil fuels which will eventually harm us as we are destroying our home and oxygen supply. This is wrong. I agree with wearing fashionable clothes and keeping up with trends, but there are alternative methods as seen in Stella McCartneys' brand. Also we can recycle clothes, wear second hand and even come to the point as McCartney to manipulate the horrors humans have caused meaning pollutants such as plastic and foam. Overall the only things i see in the research i have made are only pros as the methods covered above do more good than harm and also have very little carbon footprint but also are mostly harmless. The only cons i see are those in fast fashion which are not eco friendly, animal free and sustainable.

 (1) Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021. Stella McCartney [online] Available at : <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stella-McCartney>[ Accessed 3 February 2021]

(2) https://www.lindamccartney.com/biography/

(   (3) https://www.stellamccartney.com/experience/us/about-stella/

(4) THOMAS, D.(2019) Fashionopolis:The price of fast fashion & the future of clothes, Clerkenwell, London: Head of Zeus

(5) Wadsworth, E.(2018) Five of Stella McCartney's designs that push the sustainable agenda [online] Available at: <https://www.dezeen.com/2018/07/19/five-stella-mccartney-sustainable-designs-fashion/>[Accessed 3 February 2021]

(6) Smith, K. (2014) UK:Stella McCartney commits to forest-free viscose [online] Available at: <https://www.just-style.com/news/stella-mccartney-commits-to-forest-free-viscose_id121516.aspx>[Accessed 3 February 2021]

(7)https://www.peta.org/features/stella-mccartney-leathers-dark-truth/

(8) Healy, P. (2020) ADIDAS, LULULEMON, STELLA MCCARTNEY TO USE VEGAN LEATHER MADE FROM MUSHROOMS[online] Available at: <https://www.speciesunite.com/news-stories/adidas-lululemon-stella-mccartney-to-use-vegan-leather-made-from-mushrooms>[Accessed 3 February 2021]

(9) Lang, C. (2020) Stella McCartney Makes the Case that Animals Should Be Friends, Not Fashion[online] Available at:<https://time.com/5793822/stella-mccartney-animals-fashion-show-2020/>[Accessed 3 February 2021]