Stella McCartney Awarded CBE for Her Sustainable Fashion Work
From championing innovative materials to shunning animal fur and skins, the luxury designer has helped pave the way for cruelty-free fashion.
Credit: Stella McCartney/Instagram
Designer Stella McCartney has been awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) from King Charles, in recognition of her services to fashion and sustainability. The responsible fashion pioneer wore a custom dress to the Investiture Ceremony at Windsor Castle, paired with vegan navy pumps and a cruelty-free clutch bag.
“Humbled to be recognised for my mission to bring sustainability to fashion. As a British designer, this is such a proud and emotional day for me — not only to receive this incredible accolade from His Majesty King Charles III, but also to have been included in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s final Birthday Honours,” said McCartney.
As part of the 2013 New Year Honours, Stella was previously named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Ethical Fashion Pioneer
McCartney launched her luxury lifestyle brand in her name in 2001, after four years as creative director of Chloé. The designer is a passionate animal advocate, inspired by her late mother, Linda McCartney, and has never used any animal-derived fur, leather, or skins in her collections, instead championing sustainable, innovative materials.
More and more consumers are choosing sustainable fashion that is cruelty-free, due to heightened awareness surrounding the climate crisis and animal exploitation. More than 70 percent of Americans are now against fur farming, leading to an increased number of fashion houses, including Gucci, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana, dropping fur from their collections.
Alongside promoting ethical fur alternatives, McCartney has long called for an end to the trade. In 2021, she joined seven other designers, including Vivienne Westwood, Katharine Hamnett, and Helen Moore, and the luxury fashion department store Selfridges in urging the UK to become the first country in the world to ban the sale of real fur. In a letter addressed the issue to the then-UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the activists highlighted their “shared belief that fashion, driven by consumers and enabled by innovation, is evolving to make animal fur obsolete.”
Also that year, Stella McCartney launched the world’s first-ever garments made from vegan, lab-grown Mylo™️ mushroom leather, as part of a groundbreaking consortium between Mylo, Stella McCartney, Adidas, Lululemon, and Kerin. The consortium helped to push mushroom leather into the mainstream and promote more sustainable options than animal leather to consumers.
Designed to be low impact, mushroom leather emits far fewer greenhouse gases and uses less water and resources than animal leather, leading experts to believe that it can help designers in their quest to become more planet-friendly. It may also help to spare the one billion animals slaughtered for the leather industry each year.
“These rare, exclusive Mylo™️ pieces embody our shared commitment with Bolt Threads to innovate a kinder fashion industry – one that sees the birth of beautiful, luxurious materials as opposed to the deaths of our fellow creatures and planet,” Stella McCartney said at the time.
The first commercial luxury bag made with Mylo mushroom leather. Credit Stella McCartney
The following year, McCartney released an entire collection inspired by fungi and nature, featuring hand-drawn mushroom prints, contrasted with biophilic cut-out pieces. The first-ever luxury mushroom leather alternative bag was also released as part of the fashion line and is expected to be available commercially this year.
Last year saw McCartney enter the beauty world with the launch of her line of sustainable skincare, called STELLA. Developed in partnership with LVMH's Beauty Division, the three-product range is vegan, cruelty-free, and based on Stella’s personal philosophy of using ‘only what you need’.
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