Stella McCartney

The Force of Nature That Is Stella Steel

Stella Steel, people call her, and the name fits like a velvet glove. After all, if there is one thing the daughter of a former Beatle is, it's unstoppable.

Stella McCartney was born on September 13, 1971. She made her first jacket at the age of 12. Three years later, she worked for Christian Lacroix, honing her skills on his first collection ever. From that point on, Stella took the fashion world by storm. When she graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 1995, her friends as well as supermodels Yasmin Le Bon, Kate Moss, and Naomi Campbell modeled her graduation collection for free! One more collection later, McCartney was appointed Chloe's chief designer. To many, the appointment came too soon and was undeserved. In fact, Karl Lagerfeld, who had once held the post himself, remarked, "Chloe should have taken a big name. They did but in music, not fashion."

 Lagerfeld's skepticism notwithstanding, 1997 was a good year for McCartney and the years that followed were no less rewarding. She reaped many creative and commercial successes. To top it all, in 2000, she was asked to design Madonna' wedding dress.

Unstoppable Stella isn't one to rest on her laurels, however. She left Chloe in 2001 to start a venture with Gucci. Today, she has four stores under this venture: one in New York City, another in Mayfair, the third in Los Angeles, and the fourth and most recently opened in Hong Kong. In 2004, she once again collaborated with the material girl, designing the costumes for Madonna's Re-Invention Tour. She did the same for Annie Lennox for her summer tour and Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow for their movie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. That same year, she also launched a sports performance collection called 'Adidas by Stella McCartney'. Swim wear, gym wear, tennis wear, sportswear, and sports bags - you name it, McCartney's collaboration with Adidas has it. The 2007 collection has dance and ballet for an inspiration and features lightweight rubber shoes, skinny, low-waisted trousers, and double-layered tank tops.

In 2007, McCartney launched CARE, a skincare line which boasts of products that are 100% organic. The line is modeled by Dutch star Bette Franke and has seven flagship products, among them a cleansing milk made with apricot, linden blossom floral water, and green tea. In 2008, McCartney collaborated with lingerie line Bendon, coming out lingerie in her signature colors of blue, grey, antique pink, and cream. A line for handbag maker LeSportsac is another one of McCartney's most recent projects. Slated to have 30 to 40 styles, the collection will consist of toddler bags, travel bags, luggage, and baby accessories.

The Sporty Stella, here for Adidas

Indeed, no one could accuse McCartney of being idle. If anything, she has lined up enough projects to last two designers a lifetime. Then again, if you're the daughter of a Beatle, can success be anything other than a birthright?

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