Quick Facts
Year Founded: 1999
Headquarters: London
Company website: stellamccartney.com
Headquarters And Storefront Locations

In 1999, Stella McCartney launched her first fashion house. After leaving Chloe in 2001, McCartney opened her London headquarters and presented her first collection in Paris in partnership with Gucci Group (now Kering).
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Currently, Stella McCartney stores can be found in Manhattan’s Soho, London’s Mayfair, LA’s West Hollywood, Paris’ Palais Royal, among other trendy locations around the globe.
The History Of Stella McCartney: From Designer To Style Icon
Stella McCartney is a British designer, activist, and businesswoman. Her eponymous with her fashion house and line of women’s ready-to-wear clothes and accessories currently ranks among the most profitable in British history.
Not only has McCartney been praised for her work as a fashion designer, but she has been outspoken in support of animal rights and sustainable development, and breast cancer research. As we celebrate this woman’s success, let’s look at how she became one of the most iconic figures in fashion.
Stella McCartney’s Early Years
She was born to Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles and Linda McCartney, who was a photographer, animal rights activist, and entrepreneur.
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Stella McCartney is the youngest of her four siblings. While Linda gave birth to Stella through an emergency C-section, Paul sat outside the delivery room praying for a miracle. He asked for his daughter to be born on “the wings of an angel.” Later, as a girl, she traveled with her parents’ rock band, Wings, whose name was notably derived from her dramatic entry into the world.
When not traveling, Stella lived an everyday life growing up on a rural Sussex farm in England with her two older sisters, one older brother, and her parents.
Although McCartney spent most of her childhood on the family farm. She attended an all-girls school in England for her secondary education.
Signs Of An Early Interest In Fashion
At age seventeen, she left home to attend boarding school in Switzerland before returning home to attend art school in London, where she studied fashion design, creating her first jacket at 13.
Her parents divorced when she was just eighteen years old. Her mother died from breast cancer when Stella was twenty-four years old at age fifty-two.
At 18, she went to Saint Martin’s School of Art but shifted her focus to textiles after realizing there was intense competition in the fashion design industry.
In 1990, she enrolled at Central Saint Martins’s College of Art and Design to study Fashion Designing and Knitwear Design. Notably, Stella called her famous friends, supermodels Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon, and Kate Moss, to model her graduation collection.
Not only did the models walk her runway for free, but there was also a track explicitly written for Stella, and the occasion called “Stella May Day.”
After graduating from college, she became the creative director for Chloe in 1997 before launching her own clothing line.
What started as a small collection of fluid dresses has grown into a global lifestyle brand and one of the most recognizable names in fashion today.
Choosing The Right Bag-The Handbag Design Process
No matter what she’s doing, Stella McCartney is known for her strict adherence to her style. And as a designer, she knows how important it is for clothes and handbags to match. She also knows that it can be difficult choosing the right bag for an outfit. To help you out, we’ve outlined Stellas’ process for designing a handbag:
1. Choose a shape and color
2. Decide on the material
3. Decide on the size and length of handles
4. Add embellishments or details
5. Determine the closure
6. Choose the lining
The Stella McCartney Handbag Line And Brand Focus On Animal Rights And Sustainability
For decades, taking after her mother, McCartney has been a vegetarian and does not use leather or fur in her designs. Thus, she has been described as “a consistent and vocal supporter of animal rights.”
Some of McCartney’s designs even have text elaborating on the ‘no animals’ policy. Notably, one Adidas jacket carries a sleeve with the slogan “suitable for sporty vegetarians.”
At the same time, another pair of boots are explicitly marketed as vegan-friendly though their oil-based synthetics still raise some ecological concerns.
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What Are Some Of The Most Popular Stella McCartney Handbags?
People know the Stella McCartney brand for its high-quality, luxurious clothing and accessories, including handbags. Some of the most popular handbags in the brand include “The Saddle Bag,” “The Hobo,” and “The Falabella Tote.”
One of the better-known bags, the “Saddle Bag,” is a high-quality shoulder bag that looks like an oversized saddlebag. It’s made from faux leather, has gold hardware, magnetic closures, a detachable shoulder strap with the Stella McCartney logo, and comes in various colors.
Another of Stella McCartney’s most popular handbags is, “The Hobo,”. As with all products crafted by Stella McCartney, Hobo bags are created with sustainable materials like vegetarian leather. Additionally, Stella McCartney Hobo Bags come in over 40 different colors and are constructed to be the perfect size for carrying your essentials while on the go!
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Finally, the “Falabella Tote” is another iconic McCartney bag known for its resemblance to a laundry bag. Although the bags have a simple design, the attached chain gives it an edgy feel. Not only that, but the wearer can also easily convert the bag between a handbag and a clutch simply by folding over the top.
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How To Properly Care For Your Stella McCartney Falabella Bag
Many of you may be less familiar with correctly handling cleaning faux leather products than genuine leather. Rather than paying for an expensive cleaning solution or applying tons of pressure, simply grab a moist cloth and gently dab at spots on your Falabella bag to clean.
A-List Friends – Celebrity Wearers Of Stella McCartney
One of the first things you notice when looking at a Stella McCartney dress is the famous wearers. A-list celebrities like Natalie Portman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Madonna have all been seen sporting a Stella dress or top on their red carpets.
Stella’s celebrity wearers serve more than advertising for her brand; they also help her reach out to new audiences.
By having her dresses worn by people who are not necessarily the typical customer of the fashion industry, she is more likely to be recognized by an external audience who may not have otherwise followed her work.
While many celebrities wear more than one designer, they remain loyal when being dressed by Stella and wearing her brand.
As such, the celebrity endorsement of this woman and her designs is powerful and speaks volumes about how well she designs clothing that fits and flatters any body type.
Stella McCartney’s History Of Philanthropy And Activism
McCartney’s animal activism began at a young age when she realized the reality of the fur trade and vowed never to wear or use any animal products. Her love for animals developed into a passion, and she soon became a vegan and an activist.
Besides designing her line of vegan-friendly clothes, McCartney is also an activist on behalf of animal rights. She has been vocal in condemning international whaling and seal hunting, as well as promoting veganism through her fashion house.
She has also made great strides in limiting harmful emissions from her company by using less electricity on its lighting and heating systems. As a result, McCartney strives to be a sustainable brand.
McCartney’s activism is part of what sets her apart from other designers; she truly cares about not only how people look on the outside but how they feel on the inside, too.
Save Kering Campaign
For several years, Stella McCartney has worked on a campaign with Kering to help save endangered species.
Kering is a French multinational company that owns many luxury brands, including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. With this campaign, they give people the opportunity to purchase items from Stella McCartney’s fashion line and donate their money to Kering’s Saving Kinship program.
This effort was launched in 2016 with the help of Stella McCartney herself. It aims to stop the poaching of African elephants by providing funds for an initiative that works with local communities to protect wildlife.
Animal rights are one of her passions, and she believes that if we don’t take action soon, many animals will be extinct in our lifetime.
Stella McCartney Trivia
• In 2001, Stella McCartney presented her first collection to a group of journalists. In 2002, the designer designed a leather jacket for Johnny English’s film.
• In 2004, McCartney launched her first fragrance, Stella.
• In 2005, Stella received an OBE for her services to the fashion industry.
• Both Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton wore McCartney’s clothes in 2008.
• In 2010, McCartney was awarded a CBE and launched the brands first menswear collection.
• McCartney’s eponymous clothing line employs five hundred people and has become popular with celebrities like Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.
• McCartney was named “The Most Influential Woman in Britain” by BBC Radio 4s Woman’s Hour in 2012.
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