Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney was born in London on 13 September 1971, the second child of former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman. She was named after her maternal great-grandmothers: both of Linda McCartney's grandmothers were named Stella. As a young girl, Stella travelled the globe with her parents and their pop group, along with her siblings: older sister Heather, older sister Mary, and younger brother James. According to her father, the name of Wings was inspired by Stella's difficult birth. As his daughter was being born by emergency cesarean, Paul sat outside the operating room and prayed that she be born "on the wings of an angel." Wings toured from shortly after her birth in 1971 until 1980.

Despite their fame, the McCartney’s wanted their children to lead as normal a life as possible so Stella and her siblings attended the local state school in East Sussex.

Stella McCartney became interested in designing clothes at age 13, when she made her first jacket. She studied her foundation at Ravensbourne College of Design and communication, fashion design at Central Saint Martin’s College Of Art and Design in the early 1990s. Her graduation collection in 1995 was modeled by friends and supermodels Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss at the graduation runway show. The collection was shown to a song penned by her famous father, called "Stella May Day." The show made front-page news and the entire collection was sold to a London boutique. In 1998 she designed her sister Mary’s wedding dress for her wedding.

Stella McCartney does not use fur or leather in her designs and supports PETA. Her father is also known for supporting PETA by protesting against designers who use animal fur and those who wear it. Stella does use wool, silk and other animal-derived fabrics in her designs.

In 1997 Stella McCartney was appointed Creative Director of Paris fashion house Chloé. Despite initial scepticism, Stella McCartney's designs have enjoyed considerable commercial and critical success.

Stella McCartney received the VH1/Vogue Designer of the Year award in 2000. Paul McCartney presented the award to his daughter. She thanked him in her acceptance speech and dedicated the award to her late mother. In 2000 McCartney designed Madonna’s wedding dress for her marriage.

In 2001, Stella McCartney resigned from Chloé in order to enter into a joint venture with the Gucci Group. The line has four stores with an expansion into the perfume market. Her Stella perfume was launched in 2003, Stella Rose Absolute was launched in 2005, Stella In Two was launched in 2006 and Sheer Stella was launched in 2009, the latest of her perfume range.

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