Flocking Together to Find a Sustainable Fashion Solution at Stella McCartney
Review of Stella McCartney Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Save what you love, conscious materials, birds; but not their feathers
First and foremost, what has to be pointed out in todays collection is the fact that it is made from 91% conscious materials – revealing to The Impression backstage that the other 9% were “some of the metals from belt buckles. We use some recycled aluminium for our Falabella (bag) chains, but if there’s brass it can be a little less environmentally [friendly].” What appears to be a gargantuan task for others, McCartney is refusing to give up on, showing the rest of the industry what is possible. Admitting that “We’re like a strange fashion house in a sense, because we have sustainability and animal cruelty at the core of everything that we do, but really I’m a fashion designer and I want it to just look effortless and beautiful, and we’re really trying to stay true that.”
In each seat was a copy of “The Stella Times”, reminiscent of how the messages of activists would spread to their followers across history, via an underground press method, as well as a baseball cap emblazoned with her no-holds barred statement of “It’s About Fucking Time”, so her message could be spread far and wide long after the show was over. The statements original target (which she wore on a tank top) was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who only saw fit to inaugurate her father – Sir Paul McCartney – in 1999, almost 30 years after launching his solo career. Now using it as her rallying cry to amplify the climate emergency she has enlisted Zoe Kravitz, Charlie XCX, Ashley Graham, and Troye Sivan to join her “global community of change makers” as printed in the first edition of The Stella Times.
This season her collection was in celebration of birds, as she found that nearly half of the worlds bird species are in decline. But in the fashion industry our focus often lies elsewhere when it comes to giving up the use of materials from animals for ethical reasons – think leather, snakeskin, or Angora. The designer makes the valid point that we often look away with birds, as their feathers are a key material source for use in down coats and jackets. According to McCartney “The fashion industry alone harms and kills 3.4 billion ducks, geese, chickens and more.”
Like the physical horses who appeared in her fall 2023 show, the designer acknowledged how she finds “healing and respite” in animals, and in particular with birds; birdwatching can be a stress reliever, while “studies have shown that just six minutes of birdsong can help to improve mental health conditions” as reported in The Stella Times. And in her reasoning for choosing birds, the designer said “I’ve been thinking about the billions of birds that get killed for the fashion industry, and for me they represent freedom, purity, and peace, and so I looked at things from a birds perspective. Its about having a lightness of touch, that femininity, flight, and general weightlessness.”
So, how did this manifest through fashion? Well, from a literal take of replicating a baby bird in its nestling stage with the fluffy ‘down’ the industry so eagerly covets – here made from the waste of plastic bottle tops. A motif used throughout could also have come from the natural world as the rounded wrap shape on a ‘leather’ tank dress replicated birds wings. A dove print was hand-painted in-house by the brands studio. And the jewellery was also part of todays theme, as a collaboration with the Royal Mint’s 886 produced “an exclusive flight of dove-shaped wearable sculptures hand-carved in repurposed gold and silver – giving a second life to electronics and medical waste” (part of an ongoing sustainable solution for tech waste with the royal mint).
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
It’s something that people don’t speak about or register. As when you see a pretty feather trim, or when you have on a puffer jacket, I don’t think anyone is thinking that a bird has been killed. And how beautiful are birds? Everybody loves birds, but there are an astonishing amount of birds killed and I want to bring that to the attention of the industry
Stella McCartney, creative director, Stella McCartney
THE WRAP UP
The consumer has been told often enough that it is their responsibility to buy less, buy better, reduce, recycle, and even up-cycle. But, at this juncture of the climate crisis (where fashions environmental impact is no longer deniable), “Its About Fucking Time” that more was done in the background, such as through the supply chain. So, when a product reaches the runway it doesn’t have to boast of its sustainable credentials because it will simply be a fact, allowing customers to shop, somewhat guilt-free. As the designer said backstage “We’re all in this together and I think that’s what’s so fascinating about what we do at Stella McCartney, we try to provide a solution and provide a little information so you can make up your own mind.”
McCartney, with 91% of her collection made consciously, is showing that it is possible and can be as elevated as the next luxury brand. Whether that’s a billowing bohemian maxi dress, embellished wide-leg jeans, or a perforated leather trench and Bermuda short set. Eveningwear can even be catered for as her patchwork lace sheer dresses and fringed red tube dress will most certainly find their way onto the red carpet, on one her many young celebrity fans who were front row and loving it at todays show.
