In conversation with Stella McCartney #WONDERWOMEN from L'Officiel Italia

After Central Saint Martins ended in 1995, Stella McCartney was appointed creative director of Chlo&eacute; in 1997 at the age of 26: if at the beginning many spoke of a special treatment for Paul McCartney&#39;s daughter, critical and commercial success silenced everyone. In 2001 she launched her&nbsp;own brand, in partnership 50% with Kering thanks to the pushing of Tom Ford. A company that ended two years ago, when McCartney buys the brand back 100%. Daughter of two staunch vegetarians and raised on an organic farm, she excluded leather and fur from her collections right from the start. Since 2008 it has only used organic cotton because traditional cultivation uses 16% of the pesticides used worldwide. In 2010 she eliminates PVC. In 2012 it introduced a type of biodegradable sole for shoes, bioacetate glasses and the exclusive use of recycled polyesters. In 2013 she stopped using angora, since 2016 she uses only a sustainable and traceable viscose from Sweden because the one widespread on the market contributes dramatically to deforestation, with the felling to this end of 150 million trees in the last year alone. Last year she eliminated cashmere, so as not to contribute to the desertification of the steppes, replacing it with traceable alpaca from Peru. A coherent series of innovations that led her to declare that the S / S 2020 is the most sustainable collection she has ever managed to produce. A commitment recognized by her 6.3 million followers on Instagram as well as by the American edition of &ldquo;Vogue&rdquo;, which put it on the cover in December, the first ever granted to a fashion designer. In November 2019 the &quot;Sunday Times&quot; published its (beautiful) open letter inviting us to go beyond the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action and the G7 Fashion Pact, and to systematically reimagine the fashion industry, which is responsible for more of a third of the microplastics widespread worldwide and the second cause of global pollution of water with the dyeing of fabrics.

 
What is the origin of your passion for fashion? 
Stella McCartney: I have a very strong memory of me as a four or five year old sitting in my parents&#39; wardrobe, totally fascinated by the fact that it was shared. It was the time of Glam Rock, half of the things I was sure were my mother&#39;s were regularly worn by my father too. And I learned a lot from their strong ethical sense. They were activists involved in various international causes, vegetarians and environmentalists. I made their ethics and their commitment my own. The thing that interests me most is making my brand a brand with zero impact on the environment. Hoping that my work sets an example for everyone. 
 
Your sources of inspiration? 
As a girl I watched old Hollywood movies, I liked Katharine Hepburn, Billie Davis (English singer, ed.) But my absolute icon was Doris Day, probably because she didn&#39;t fit into the stereotypes of women at the time. The film that influenced me the most in what I still do today was &ldquo;Calamity Jane&rdquo;, where Doris Day was a tomboy and a cowgirl who suddenly turns into a superglamorous woman. The art and design of the 1900s are another source of inspiration: Jean Prouv&eacute;, Charlotte Perriand, Gio Ponti, Fontana, Ert&eacute;, Paolo De Poli, Alexander Calder ... 
 
You started collaborating with Adidas in 2004. How did this partnership come about? 
At the time, sportswear for women was terrible, to the point of paradoxically almost being cool: the colors were basic, there was very little variety in the models. I thought this offered a great opportunity to intervene to the point that today sportswear has become a lifestyle choice for women all over the world. From a technical point of view, I found it exciting to be able to offer women a cutting edge technology that is invisible to the eye but actually capable of improving performance. We try to make our outfits more and more innovative from all points of view, in terms of technology, model construction and fashion content, using materials obtained in an ethical and sustainable way. 
 
Your mantra, in relation to sustainability, is: &quot;Tomorrow starts today&quot;, and you are and have always been a pioneer in engineering values in your fashion that still today many brands prefer to ignore or that in any case address more from a green perspective. washing that to bring about an effective change. After the S / S 2020 collection, which you defined as the most sustainable of all those you have worked on, made of 75% sustainable materials, what specific objectives are you focusing on? 
Innovation is the basis of what we do, what we consider fashionable and sexy. We stopped using PVC, the most toxic of plastics already 10 years ago, and developed a fantastic alternative called PU. I love the regenerated cashmere we use very much: the impact is seven times lower than that of virgin cashmere, because it is made from what is wasted in traditional processing. For F / W 2020 we have introduced a new faux fur called KOBA made of cellulose and recycled polyester which requires 30% less energy and produces 63% less carbon emissions. We are also working with a new partner to create sustainable and biodegradable stretch denim. 
 
Are you afraid that the economic crisis aggravated by Covid-19 could be a brake on the environmental cause? Or rather an opportunity? 
I think it&#39;s fascinating that for the first time in history we&#39;re all connected by the same thing, and I think this is the first time we can actually measure the damage we&#39;ve done. We saw coal emissions drop 25% in February in China. A very short period of time was enough for us to see nature take back its spaces. I have often wondered all these years: will we ever be able to &quot;heal&quot; the Earth? This is proof that we can, so I&#39;m hopeful. I think it would be truly a mistake of perspective, especially for the fashion industry, not to use this moment to rethink and improve the whole system. 
 
Are you already working on something concrete in your role as Bernard Arnault&#39;s personal sustainability advisor? 
When LVMH is ready to seriously talk about sustainability, I think the time has come for the fashion world to wake up and understand that it is no longer a trend but its future. I think Arnault is very ready for this kind of conversation and what we could do together would really change the rules of the game. Of course these things don&#39;t happen quickly and unfortunately we don&#39;t know if we will have enough time to make significant changes for our children. But it is an extraordinary opportunity. 
 
Your most beautiful moment related to fashion? 
I&#39;ve had so many extraordinary moments, from the creation of the British team&#39;s Olympic uniforms in 2012 to Meghan Markle dressed in my wedding reception dress, but most of all I am happy to have always been consistent, to have never compromised when everyone invited me to do it as the only way to achieve success. 
 
In ten years you would like ... 
Keep doing what I do, create clothes that are not only beautiful but kind to the planet, and always use new technologies to do it better. And I wish all the other brands had joined me in this mission; that working this way had become the norm. 
 
In your open letter to the Sunday Times you argue that various governments should encourage the use of sustainable materials 
At the moment there are no real guidelines for the fashion industry and therefore the costs are very high for those like me who want to use only procedures and materials that are not harmful to the planet. For example, I can be taxed 30% more for wanting to import a faux leather item into the United States. That way, I&#39;m practically punished for trying to do something good. It should be the other way around: there should be rules that prevent the use of environmentally harmful materials.

#WONDERWOMEN: Stella McCartney

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