Stella McCartney S/S2022

Stella McCartney has been ahead of the contemporary eco-fashion conversation for decades – and seemingly effortlessly so. For summer next year, the luxury fashion house has outdone itself environmentally and creatively; debuting both a collection dripping in Y2K excellence, and a new innovative luxury fabric called Frayme Mylo™️.   McCartney was raised an environmentalist and has been advocating for progress in the industry since her days studying in Central St Martins.  “Having never used leather, feathers, fur or skins since day one, all of our shoes and bags are vegan,” writes the designer in the McCartney A to Z manifesto.  Every milestone McCartney has hit has been a triumph for the eco-fashion movement. Now, in the 20th year since she started her eponymous fashion house, the team looked to the 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi for inspiration and climate solutions. 

In the film, through the darkness of Paris’ Espace Niemeyer building, mycologist Paul Stamets’ distorted voice can be heard.  “In fashion, mushrooms are the future,” he declared as light flowed through the white biodome surround.  Echoing that sentiment, nature’s organic tones – equally earthy and vibrant at the same time – fills the new McCartney collection with a standout luminous green featured in deconstructed knits, ultra-light parachute parkas and skin-tight jumpsuits with asymmetrical cuts.  The collection’s sheer crystal diamanté lace offered breathtaking moments: a glistening maxi dress layered above a green bodysuit filter and an almost head-to-toe sparkling second skin, reminiscent of the first morning dew in Spring.  Next season, McCartney’s women are going to be serving sensual femininity, while redefining sexiness through unexpected flashes of skin and biophilic shapes.

The October 4th presentation also marked the launch of the special edition Frayme Mylo™️ – the world’s first bag made from Mylo™️ leather to be presented on a catwalk.  This leather alternative is verified vegan, sustainable  and animal-free; made from the infinitely renewable underground root system of mycelium.  For McCartney, Frayme Mylo™️ is a material for a new age; a marriage of science and high fashion design that transforms classic luxury codes into earth-friendly forms.

In a moment that recalls her game-changing ‘no fur’ ultimatum to the board of Chloé in 1997, McCartney emerges to celebrate a new era with S/S2022,  after five years of breakthrough research with Bolt Threads. “What you see on the runway today” she writes, “is the conscious fashion industry of tomorrow”.

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