I had a gem of a conversation with Stella McCartney about her pre-collection over Zoom this week. Never have I heard such a specific exposition on the subjectivity, empathy, and knowledge that goes into designing as a woman. It transpired over the imminent comeback of pencil skirts.
We were hovering over a gray flannel suit with a jacket embroidered with metallic balls when it all started to come out. “That, for me, is the ultimate; I know I’m going to be wearing that,” she exclaimed. “I was fascinated by this below-the-knee length. Because, as we know, that’s incredibly critical. It’s a proportional thing, which I think is coming. Almost a midi pencil skirt. We’ve not seen that for a long time in a suit. It’s like, when is that right again? When something’s so wrong, it’s right—it’s very right to me.”
She and her team have obsessed and finessed over every angle of what this new-fashioned garment should not only look like right now, but how it must perform. “I think a lot of the world we live in is now: oh, you take a photograph, because everything is so content-driven. And I’m like, no! Because when you’re wearing it, it’s really different. One of the biggest precision-points, for me as a designer, is what happens when you move—so I’ve got a lot of skirts that hit just below, but not on the knee. When you walk in a pencil skirt, it edges up, so it’s critical that it hits you in the right place. Those tiny little details are everything.”
She was on a great roll now. “There are rules I take into account. It’s what happens when you move, and also where it sits on the hip. It’s not tight on the waist. Not too low on the hip. They’re just in-between. Then: what happens in the back, and under the bum? Does the skirt just come straight down? Do you need a slit? Is the slit on the side?” She shook her head. “All my slits are in the back, because I find a slit on the side a little too much information. I don’t want that on that particular skirt, because then it becomes an evening skirt, or too sexy. And I’m not interested in that.”
The entirety of the collection runs expansively from day through to party dressing. In a way, it’s a Stella greatest-hits collection, but composed with consideration for every nuance of utility and enjoyment—and lack of waste. “I paused for a moment with this collection, and looked at everything around me. I think it’s an important time for our brand, to have a real sense of who we are and what we stand for and what we represent in the world of fashion. It was an important question to ask myself, with my design team and everyone at Stella. As much as looking at my family and my heritage, which I’ve done throughout the history of the brand, what’s really important to me is my fashion family at work. We’re a female-dominated workplace. So it’s really like: what do we want to wear? What do we want to take home? What do we want our children to borrow from our wardrobe? How do we want this to be really a part of our life? And what is the Stella life in fashion?”
Together they reaffirmed the core of Stella-ness. Practicality, fun, exactitude of fit—and a collection that spikes sustainability with sexiness. “You can make it what you want to make it, and it’s not wearing you. I don’t want to punish myself anymore. I want to be comfortable,but I want to look cool.” No compromises on fashion impact. She pointed to the big, shiny black bomber jacket. “That’s fungi mycelium mock-croc” in YATAY® M, a biobased vegan material. “It’s [worn] with this beautiful sustainable viscose legging that’s just got a fierceness and edginess to it.”
“I came in with my fabric team, and I was like, guys, I really don’t want to buy fabric, and I don’t want to make fabric, so I want us to fulfill our orders in waste and upcycling and stock. I love working that way. It’s a different kind of challenge creatively. My team enjoys it. We rise to that challenge.” Examples: a melange-gray tailored topcoat, which is “completely dead-stock” fabric, a blurred animal-print coat which is made from recycled polyester that is “actually so light you can just roll it up,” crisp organic cotton shirts, and “forest-friendly” satin viscose.
McCartney’s new Ryder bag, a chic structure based on a saddle-shape (which she launched last month with a party in Holland Park) turns up in various sizes, and in materials including faux suede and other components in her library of vegan leather-substitutes. This pre-fall collection is apparently the brand’s most sustainable yet, “crafted with 99% conscious materials.” Amongst them is the S-Wave Sport trainer, which she’s particularly excited about, featuring uppers in Piñayarn®, a 100% plant-based, recyclable, and biodegradable textile sourced from pineapple leaves, and soles in BioCir® Flex, a compostable, recyclable, and biobased alternative to fossil fuel-based plastics.
“I mean, this is insane. My shoe designer came up to me and said, ‘smell the sole.’ It’s made of, like, cinnamon waste. It smells of cinnamon! And it’s basically a 100% plant based, recyclable, and biodegradable textile. It’s a closed-loop production, so it ensures completely zero waste. It’s mind-blowing. I’m so proud of everyone for achieving that.”
Alongside classic McCartney tailoring and knitwear, there’s a full panoply of full-wattage evening dresses. “I think we do work well with our glamour at Stella. We do have a very faithful following of women that want red carpet,” she reflected. “Really great friends who call, like, ‘Shit, can I get this? I’ve got something tonight’” It’s her female-centric psychology that wins out every time—the difference it makes when surface appearance comes allied with inside practice. Case in point: one of her glittery party dresses. “The embellishment is lead- free crystal. All our embroidery this season is half and half—I didn’t put it on the backs, because I’m like, you don’t want to sit on that!” she laughed. “I’m proud that women know they can trust that I’ll have something they can just chuck over their head, and they’ll look a million dollars.”