Drew Barrymore and Oprah Winfrey are two of the famous faces who support Paris’ eco-friendly fashion week.
On Monday morning, the Paris Opera hosted Stella McCartney’s new collection. The catwalk was held under a magnificent canopy of chandeliers. McCartney is focusing this season on an environment that is endangered and ancient, the Sumatra Leuser ecosystem.
The designer supports a campaign to save the rainforest’s 6.5 million acres, which are home to 105 mammal and tiger species, as well as the Sumatran orangutan at-risk, as well as vegetation, which is an important supply of oxygen.
McCartney is using her star power to launch a campaign encouraging social-media users to dedicate trees and to donate to Canopy, a nonprofit organization.
So far, Selma Blair and Gwyneth Paltrow have been recruited. It was an impressive display of celebrity power, even by Paris fashion week standards. Celebrities gathered backstage to take selfies after the show.
Dresses made from sustainable viscose sourced from certified forests linked the conservation message to the clothes on the catwalk. This collection was made from vintage Stella McCartney fabric, which was then quilted to make a graphic wrap coat. The fluid maxidress was created from vintage T-shirts that were cut into strips and then knotted and knitted.
McCartney is against disposability. After the show, McCartney stated that she had tried to make pieces that people would want to pass down from generation to generation. Clothes are “donated from the past” through upcycling and “dedicated for the future”.
Stella McCartney’s classics include vegan leather and fur-free fur coats. This is a clear message that you can have both style and principles. The designer’s jumpsuits were the first to have cargo-pant utility pockets. Next season’s shirt dresses featured exaggeratedly pointed collars and fluid dresses with the architectural shoulders that were a hallmark of this Paris fashion Week.
McCartney was able to shift her sourcing in favor of a circular economy. McCartney said that there were two exits to this show that were entirely upcycled and circular. She said that there were T-shirts from second hand that were going to be thrown away, burned, or landfilled. We cut them into strips and made knitwear from them.
“We also took our own prints, which had been recycled from other collections, and stored them in our warehouses. We then turned them into appliques or embroidery work. Completely sustainable embroidery is really interesting for us. This is almost a new concept in conscious couture. There is also a softness in borrowing from the past.”
McCartney joined forces with her husband, Alasdhair Willis, the creative director of wellington boot brand Hunter, for the dramatically sculptural skinny-legged, chunky-soled boots worn in the show. According to a brand statement, the statement wellies will be available for purchase by autumn. They are set on natural rubber soles and have Yulex sock inserts. Yulex is a plant-based substitute to neoprene.
