Top 44 Stella McCartney Quotes

You have to be hopeful that people will be more educated in how they buy things, and hopefully more luxury brands will start to think that way on a longer-term basis.

I love a pocket. I’m about helping women look as good as possible on the least amount of effort. I want versatility and comfort. Clothes that can go from the office to anywhere. We’re always trying on samples at work. If none of us would wear it, chances are no one else will.

If you try to create something people enjoy, and it happens to be made in a responsible way, then that’s when you can really strike an incredible balance.

Very early, I thought I would go into music, but I was aware that it would bring a set of obstacles I didn’t find particularly attractive. Also, I’m not a great performer! For a while, I thought I would do something in landscape gardening. But it was always fashion for me.

Sometimes I wish I were less sensible.

Growing up, I was always really inspired by Disney, and I had a great love of everything they created. My mum was huge fan, and she used to collect stills, and so they were all around the house, and we very much grew up on the early Disney films.

People think I’m strong, but actually I wanted to crawl away. I thought, I’m going to live in the country with my horse and I’ll get a nine-to-five; I don’t need this.

It’s important for us as a family to go and sit in the woods sometimes.

When I was about seven, I remember spending a lot of time in my parents’ wardrobe trying on their bespoke suits.

Designing kids clothes is something personal to me because I’m a mother. So to be able to see my kids wearing something I’ve designed is very fulfilling. With the kids’ collection, we really try to focus on great quality with an accessible price point in styles that appeal to both parents and kids.

I wanted the collection for Target to reinterpret all the must-haves of Stella McCartney for winter and to make my designs more accessible to a wider audience in Australia.

Losing my mum. That was a punch-me moment.

My mum and dad had creative jobs, but our family was a working family – so there wasn’t an option of, ‘Oh, when you’re older, you’re not going to have to work.’

I can honestly say this industry hasn’t made me neurotic about my looks, except maybe my weight. I hope my clothes kind of reflect that. They’re meant to make you feel good.

Ninety percent of the people who come to my stores have no idea I don’t work with leather.

I never want to promote an ad that makes women feel bad about themselves, because when I was young, I never felt rich enough or fashionable enough or good enough. I felt talked down to by luxury fashion labels. There was a disconnect. They made me feel we weren’t right for each other.

Obviously, we live in a society where ageing is feared. But, to me, the alternative to getting old isn’t that great. I’ve got friends much older than me and much younger, and I love that. It means you get to teach as well as learn.

I think my differences were, and my differences still are, that I don’t really approach fashion in a fashiony way.

Mum was a big style icon for me: her natural sexiness and natural confidence.

I was brought up in a way that was based purely on the senses. Everything in my upbringing was a reaction to growing up on an organic farm or to the emotions of animal cruelty, as well as the visuals of my mum’s and my father’s art – he was also an art collector.

I’ve got my organic veg patch and fruit; we’re very garden-obsessed, my husband and I. He designed a garden for me for Christmas, so beautiful! Alasdhair’s very good at the proportion and ground work, and I come in and do the planting and the color scheme.

To work on the competition wear for the Olympics is kind of insane. As a fashion designer, you don’t think to yourself, ‘I’m going to get the opportunity to work with athletes at that level at the Olympic Games.’ It really is such an incredible thing to have any kind of contact with as a designer.

Everyone can do simple things to make a difference, and every little bit really does count.

My biggest surprises in my everyday job have to do with the challenges of trying to be slightly more responsible as a brand.

I’m a woman designing for women, and there are so many layers to that. On the one hand, it brings an effortlessness, but it also means that I think and overthink every detail, whether it’s physical or mental or even – in some sense – spiritual.

Modern fake fur looks so much like real fur that the moment it leaves the atelier, no one can tell it’s not the real thing. And I’ve struggled with that.

For me, singing is the most natural thing in the world. I’ve grown up with it and I know I’ve got that gift.

I don’t plan massively in advance.

The beliefs I was raised with – to respect animals and to be aware of nature, to understand that we share this planet with other creatures – have had a huge impact on me.

I think the moment that I’m very proud of is building a business without using animals. And, hopefully, changing people’s perception of how you can do luxury fashion.

I didn’t want to be thirtysomething and not know what I was going to do. I was quite afraid of that, there were quite a lot of aimless kids around, in that ‘other’ side of my life, who didn’t really know what to do because they always had a bank balance to fall back on and they were quite lost.

Depending on the season, between 20 and 30 percent of my collections contain some sort of eco or sustainable element, whether it’s a beautiful organic fabric or a natural dye. And obviously I don’t use animal skins or fur of any kind.

I confess to being a frustrated musician.

From an early age, I was very interested in all things fashion… and the change from tomboy to ultrafeminine glamour in old films. There was a Doris Day film I loved: ‘Calamity Jane.’

I used to get embarrassed about the fact I liked fashion. I still get a bit cringy.

It’s not realistic to live in the country at this stage. I’ve got a business in London. I beat myself up about it all the time.

As a British fashion designer, it is an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be creative director of Team GB as the hosting nation of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

My mum had a massive influence on me, not just in what she wore and how she looked, but in her spirit. She was married to one of the most famous men in the world, and she didn’t wear any makeup, ever. I mean, have you ever seen the wife of a man like that rock up with no makeup on? Because I haven’t since.

I’m incredibly sad that my mother’s not here to see my kids and that my kids don’t get to know her. And she didn’t meet my husband. That’s one of the hardest things. I don’t even know how to put that into words.

I think I always dreamt of having a brand that really was represented globally, that had a voice – that had a clear voice and a clear vision that made women feel great about themselves. That really spoke to women on a personal level. And that women could wear.

I am very aware of my family name. I’m very aware of the legacy that that kind of carries with it. And I think that I didn’t want to lose any kind of hold of that. And I think once you’re born into something that you’re proud of and that you’re aware of, you don’t take it lightly.

It’s immoral that people make money out of writing crap, but I try not to obsess about it. I don’t want to spend my life being angry.

Sustainability goes across everything I do with Adidas and everything I do with my own house, so the Olympic kit is no exception. It is incredibly environmental in the way that it is manufactured. For example, there’s no leather; it’s free from PVC. There’s lots of woven materials, which means a lot less waste.

I personally love sportswear, and love using it in high fashion.