Luxury fashion online retailer Mytheresa teams up with Stella McCartney on an exclusive capsule collection
Stella McCartney is a woman of many wonders. Recognised as one of the most successful businesswomen in the industry today – as well as one of fashion’s most vocal champions of environmental issues – there’s no slowing down for the designer any time soon.
Mytheresa shares the same values and identity as the British designer and for that reason, McCartney was chosen as a brand ambassador – the 16th Mytheresa woman.
To celebrate their partnership, the creative has designed an 11-piece capsule collection exclusive to Mytheresa.
As to what you can expect from the collection?
Think her modern and feminine aesthetic injected into a slew of suiting separates, puffed-sleeve dresses, alter nappa trousers, a jumpsuit and knits, in shades of black, brown, pink, complemented by leopard jacquard, zebra and horse prints.
What is the idea behind the exclusive capsule collection that you created for Mytheresa?
It was important that the collection was effortless and could take the customer from day to night without having to think about it, so that’s why we included lots of separates as this is where they can really make the outfit into their own, mixing and matching different styles for different occasions. Men’s tailoring for women is at the core of what we do at Stella McCartney so I also wanted the collection to draw on this as this is what I love to wear and what many of my customers look so great in. I love seeing how my customer make the pieces their own.
Who inspires you?
Both my parents have always been a source of inspiration for me, I think it just comes naturally. My mother had a self-confidence and independence that has always influenced me, as well as an incredible fearless and effortless sense of style. I was always obsessed with dad’s tailoring and stage wardrobe.
What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
I very much grew up in the arts and I knew very early on I wanted to do something in the arts, when I was about seven but I was not sure what exactly. I did spend a lot of time growing up in my parents’ wardrobe trying on their clothes. I remember being fond of a pair of white platform boots my mother was wearing at that time, as well as their bespoke suits. I loved watching old Hollywood films from the fifties like “Annie Get your Gun” who inspired me to become a fashion designer later on.
What drives you?
We do not accept that because things have always been done a certain way it is the right way to do them. I think innovation and technology present such huge opportunities for new sustainable materials to be developed. This is what excites me and gets me up in the morning! For example, the guys at Bolt Threads are doing amazing things with lab grown silk made by copying the remarkable properties of spider silk and can be sustainably produced on a large scale, and also vegan leather called Mylo, made using Mycelium which is the underground root structure of mushrooms. For me that kind of innovation is the future of the planet – not just in fashion – but in food and medicine.
What is your personal luxury?
It is the biggest compliment for your product to have an afterlife—to me, that is luxury. I look at luxury fashion as an investment, and when you buy a Stella McCartney product, I hope that if you do not want to hand it down to your daughter or friend, then you can let someone else use it. The key to all of these [sustainable] solutions is that they can be inspiring—they do not have to feel like a punishment. There is $500 billion worth of waste in the fashion industry every year, and that, to me, is a business opportunity. The next generation will look at all this waste and say, ‘Let’s create something new out of it.’ That is going to be the next exciting thing.
When and how did you first come into contact with the topic of sustainability?
It started in my up bringing, I grew up in an organic farm as a vegetarian and it really all steamed from the way my parents brought me up. And when it came time for me to start a business, I felt I had to carry out the same ethics in my personal life is how I would conduct my business.
What would most help fashion and design become more sustainable?
Information is incredibly important, and making sure businesses are being taught the real impact of the way they are producing clothes is having on the environment, and what brands can do to make positive changes. Having the right tools available to make it easy to have transparency with the supply chain is also becoming more and more important. The biggest impact that we have is at the supply chain level and so what we end up doing is developing our own fabrics. The starting point of sustainability is where you source from. Nothing is done small. We do all the hard work behind the scenes to make it easy and effortless for the consumer to be able to shop responsibly. If you are a conscious consumer, you can come to Stella McCartney and a small thing you can do is buy a non-leather bag and that has a huge impact environmentally. But more over the industry needs to be guided and monitored by government legislations, so businesses are truly encouraged to be more sustainable.
You’ve always been a very vocal animal rights activist. Is that something that you inherited from your parents?
Absolutely. I was always taught to do unto others as others would do unto you. Growing up my parents were vegetarians, and we were taught to love animals and respect all creatures. I always knew if I was going to do this, become a fashion designer, then I would stick to what I believe in and what my parents taught me, and I always believed that you don’t have to sacrifice style for sustainability and animal welfare. I have great respect for the history and the craft of what I do, but the way things are done, the fabrics used – they have not changed in a century! There is a resistance to innovation. Over 50 million animals are killed in the name of fashion every year, and that is just something I can’t process. It is so unnecessary to me.
Now, take a look at how Stella McCartney is giving back for breast cancer awareness month.
