Stella McCartney graduated from Central St Martins in 1995, and by 1997 was appointed creative director of Chloe in Paris. In 2001, she launched her eponymous luxury fashion house and showed her first collection in Paris in October. A lifelong vegetarian, she has never used leather, feathers, skin or fur in any of her design. The brand has continued to grow its sustainability thought leadership through material and supply chain innovation, partnerships and more.

She launched the Stella fragrance in 2003, the ongoing Adidas by Stella McCartney partnership in 2004 and the first lingerie collection in 2008. In 2010, the Falabella bag was introduced. McCartney was appointed Team Great Britain’s creative director for the 2021 London Summer Games by Adidas — the first time in the history of the games that a leading fashion designer has designed the apparel for a country’s team across all competitions. She returned as the Team GB creative director for Rio’s 2016 Olympics.

Her first-ever namesake menswear collection launched in 2017 and McCartney designed the first-ever vegan Stan Smith in 2018.

After 17 years of partnership, McCartney purchased Kering’s stake in her company in 2018. Later that year, she designed Meghan Markle’s wedding reception dress and partnered with the United Nations on a sustainable fashion charter. In 2019, she entered into a partnership with LVMH to further develop her brand while retaining majority ownership.