Stella McCARTNEY

As the renowned designer turns 50, Alley Pascoe charts her metamorphosis from “Paul and Linda McCartney’s daughter” to fashion industry icon and eco warrior

- Alley Pascoe

In the 1990s, supermodels such as Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss didn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000. Unless Stella McCartney asked them to be in her graduate fashion show, in which case they’d happily fly from New York and Berlin to London to walk the runway accompanied by the soundtrack of an original Paul McCartney song composed especially for the occasion. That’s exactly what Moss and Campbell did in 1995 when McCartney, then 23, graduated from Central Saint Martins design college. Moss wore a pastel green slip dress embellished with daisy motifs and colour-coordinated wedge heels, and Campbell showcased a tailored pinstripe suit with matching top hat, while Paul and Linda McCartney sat front row, cheering on their daughter.

It was a pinnacle moment for the young designer, and one she remembers now with chagrin. “I look back on that moment and feel a bit embarrassed I was so naive,” she revealed in 2017. “[Moss and Campbell] were my mates and that’s who I was hanging out with at college. Kate was even living with me for a period of time, so when it came to choosing the models for my degree show, I thought, ‘Well I might as well ask my friends.’ I can understand why it was headline news and may have pissed off my fellow students a tad, but it was a very Brit moment.”