Stella McCartney was one of many designers who enjoyed a homecoming moment at British Fashion‘s Forces of Fashion event on Saturday, held at Central Saint Martins (John Galliano, Christopher Kane, Conner Ives and Feben are the others). The designer graduated from the prestigious fashion school, then based in Charing Cross, in 1995. “I wanted to make clothes that I wanted to wear, and I think that was quite new at the time,” McCartney said. Fashion‘s Chioma Nnadi from her graduation show. Even then, she managed to pull together quite a cast, with Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Yasmin Le Bon all starring. “My friends were these incredible supermodels; they all wanted to support a friend, but also British fashion and student fashion,” the designer recalled, before joking: “So I know I’m the first nepo baby, I’m sorry!”
At just 25, the designer became creative director of Chloé, following in the footsteps of Karl Lagerfeld, who noted that the French fashion house had appointed a big name “in music, not in fashion.” However, that didn’t bother McCartney. “I think I was very naive,” McCartney reflected. “Honestly it sounds ridiculous now, I thought no one will notice if I take this job because Chloé was not a cool house [at the time].” Of course people have noticed this, with McCartney’s 1990s Chloé designs still extremely desirable today. How did it feel to prove the critics wrong? “I’m still proving people wrong,” she replied. “I always felt like I had to prove myself.”