Stella McCartney launched her brand in 2001, owning a 50% partnership with the Kering group. The label was one of the first fashion brands to join the sustainability movement, choosing to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Linda McCartney, an animal rights activist. Stella herself is an ethical vegetarian. This ethical background lays a foundation for the brand's practices. As such, Stella McCartney is scrupulous about the sustainability, ethics, and animal friendly practices of the materials and production. The brand uses non-violent materials to create their ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, lingerie, and eyewear, strongly believing in sustaining the planet and taking care of animals.
The styles tend toward high fashion and luxury. The brand boasts an endless catalog of unique and highly aesthetic fashion pieces, many of which perfectly bridge the gap between runway and reality; they're high fashion, but not in the the sense that they are overtly strange so as to catch as many eyeballs as possible. McCartney's style has an artsiness to it, but never to the detriment of class, luxury, or even sexiness. The high fashion lean of the style gives every piece an extremely unique aesthetic that makes the clothing memorable.
But don't worry, there is also no shortage of everyday staples and casual items, and everything in between. Shorts, jeans, shirts, sweaters, lingerie, handbags, accessories, the list goes on. The brand also carries many categories one wouldn't expect to find from a high-fashion luxury brand like kids' clothing and loungewear. This vast selection grounds the brand as a reasonable place to shop, not just for high-end dresses or fashion, but also for, well, just about anything. It's not often you can buy pajama pants made with luxury designer quality. But at Stella, you can.