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Stella McCartney - Wonder Kid Extraordinaire?

By Celia Pavlaki

"Daddy's girl" thought her classmates at Central Saint Martins back in 1995. Today, ten years later, thousands of dedicated shoppers seem to reply on her behalf: "so what?"

Wonder Kid Extraordinaire? There's no space for questionmarks next to Stella's name anymore. Read on.

I gracefully tried on her collection, fiercely fought for a piece of her line at H&M last November, read between the lines and walked down the same Saint Martins corridors. Now I am ready to reveal what I came up with.

Google her and you will get more than 4 million pages. There is very little that hasn't already been said about the McCartney girl. It is only now though that it all makes sense.

"We do not have a 'money-tree' in our back yard" my father used to say each time I wished to buy totally unnecessary -but absolutely fabulous- new shoes as a teenager. It seems that Sir Paul McCartney said the same because schoolgirl Stella washed dishes at a restaurant to fund her shopping trips.

From a very young age though, it was clear that she wanted to do more than just buy fashion. She designed her first jacket aged 12, three years later she was assisting at the atelier of Lacroix and during her years in London's most demanding and unforgiving fashion college she did and apprenticeship where craftsmanship thrives, Saville Row.

Had she been in your class of course, you would have hated her too: fashion's coolest are her friends, her family is rich and her surname is legendary. Not just that, but while you were struggling to come up with all sorts of tricks to get your collection noticed, she sent down the catwalk mates Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell and made you eat her dust.

No struggle, no drama? Was she going to get away with success just like that? Not so fast, some fashion thinkers must have thought and the war officially began with fierce battles taking place on newspaper columns, lobbies and web-pages.

Maybe it was this pressure and constant judgement that made her push the limits and blossom in every way in the years to follow.

When she was appointed creative director at Chloe, being 25 and having shown her own collection for only two seasons, she was heavily criticised. Karl Lagerfeld who had just stepped off the post is said to have commented back in 1997; "Chloe should have taken a big name. They did, but in music, not in fashion".

He must have been biting his hat off (his sunglasses rather) when it turned out that McCartney breathed new life into the retro fashion house's image and finances, increasing turnover by 500%. Ironically, the president of Chloe had stated he had not hired her for her famous last name and once told Vogue he thought she was called Stella McCarthy.

After turning the Gucci Group down once over animal rights issues, Stella finally agreed to produce her own line with them, with her contract stating "no use of fur or leather". She has always remained true to her values on that subject, and in the past she did not hesitate to put her tender career at stake and narrate a clip for PETA released during Fur Fashion Week (http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=furfarm). As she puts it, "there is nothing fashionable about wearing fur".

From the very beginning, she won over fashion genius and business mind Tom Ford. Despite that and the warm welcome her collection received by the public though, the press still seemed to love to hate her: "she's gone bankrupt", "daddy is funding her collections", "she is losing control" or even "she is a lesbian" (how irrelevant) were headlines meant to break her.

Well, they did not.

Ever since she opened three flagship stores in New York, London and Los Angeles and got involved in projects with brands like Adidas and names such as Gary Hume, David Remfry and Robert Crumb. She designed the costumes for Madonna's "Reinvention Tour", Annie Lennox' summer concerts as well as those for the sci-fi movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law. On top she has created a perfume with her name adored by women on both sides of the Atlantic.

She has won a number of awards in fashion but social awareness too, something that not many designers list among their achievements.

McCartney has proved that she is ready to leave her comfort zone anytime to show what she's made of, making those who doubted her look like fools. Most recently, she succeeded "The Kaizer" once again in collaborating with the mass production giant H&M for a one-off affordable line. Only this time no claws came out. "I think the idea is genius, a perfect match" commented Lagerfeld rather sheepishly, "she's got a name, a face and a story (…) today she's proved that she has real personality". Quelle surprise.

And what a strategic comment too, as the designer of Chanel must have seen the comparison coming. Never did so many girls -of all ages- bunk off school or work to fight for a pair of trousers. And never did so many eBay users bid happily on H&M clothes, being aware they were charged double the original price. People would do anything to get their hands on a piece of Stella's collection and that must be the ultimate award in fashion.

On the other hand, there are not many designers that understand women as much. The simplicity of her clothes that seem to fit in any wardrobe, the "britishness" of her designs as well as the bond of romantic flair with fine tailoring, make a rare combination that wins on every female body. Oh, it takes much more than a loud surname to stay in fashion for so long.

In her ten-year career, Stella McCartney has managed to rejuvenate a powerhouse, collaborate with artists and entrepreneurs, design for the big screen, dress successfully women-legends of very different styles, create a universally praised own brand and prove that her lines are equally adored by the public whether they come as sportswear, designerwear or highstreet-budget.

Wonder Kid Extraordinaire? I think there is no space for question marks next to Stella's name anymore.

Celia can be contacted at:celia.pavlaki@gmail.com