Stella McCartney staged her fall show in a greenhouse, adding a subliminal message about the urgency of the climate crisis to the environmental manifesto that prefaced her show, Olivia Colman and Helen Mirren reading a poignant letter from Mother Earth which asks, “Don’t you love me anymore?”
Video monitors showed icebergs collapsing, clouds boiling and mountains stripped of their forests.
The British designer beckons women to join her cause by embracing her roomy and mannish tailoring, here with more swagger than ever; her minimalist jersey dresses hung from ramrod shoulders, and her coats, jackets and skirts made of eco leather that’s a dead ringer for the real thing, minus the dead animals.
She turned out a fierce trench coat in a very convincing mock croc, and offered fur-like surfaces, including the plush pink teddy bear coat that opened the show, and her colorful looped knit scarves and dresses.
McCartney’s polished, slyly glamorous collection demonstrated that sequins and crystal embellishments are possible in sustainable ways, the former free of plastics and PVC, the latter of lead.
“Eco facts” provided after the show detailed that 90 percent of McCartney’s latest collection was realized with “responsible materials,” while her chain-edged Falabella bags now come coated with Airlite, said to actively purify what we breathe.
Backstage, after embracing her father Sir Paul McCartney and posing for photos with Ringo Star, M.I.A. and Charlotte Rampling, the designer spoke about her ongoing obsession with Savile Row tailoring: getting the sleeve heads to fit in perfectly, and her full-legged trousers to ride on a certain part of the hips.
She said her fall show was about scale, and powerful shoulders. “It’s quite a powerful, oversized situation, a little bit David Byrne,” she allowed, referring to the Talking Heads frontman in his “Stop Making Sense” days.
“Joy, a boldness in color, but wearability,” is how she summed up the collection, which offered workday wardrobe builders, and also fun items like jeans fronted with eco leather chaps, or silver sequins.
A host of LVMH brass were in attendance, including new LVMH Fashion Group boss Michael Burke, group managing director Toni Belloni, human resources and synergies head Chantal Gaemperle, and Amandine Ohayon, attending her first Stella McCartney show as its chief executive officer.
Backstage, McCartney said having the French luxury group as a minority investor isn’t lost on her.
“I’m a big believer in infiltrating from within. I mean, I’m with the biggest brands in the world, I’m fighting inside and they’re very openhearted to it,” she said. “I’m very encouraged.
“We’re conscious and connected, and it’s a solution-driven brand,” she continued, brushing off suggestions that she’s angry at the world. “I want to have a feeling of positivity… Using fashion to lift people up.”
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