Just by looking at Stella McCartney’s Fall 2017 collection, which was chock-full of leather pants, suede jackets and handbags, you wouldn’t know that none of it was sourced from animals.
McCartney launched her self-named brand in 2001 as a vegetarian luxury brand, and now she hopes to challenge the fashion norm again with her “skin-free skin” fabrics, which she debuted at her Monday, March 6, show in Paris.
The newly invented material has the same gorgeous look and feel of genuine leather without actually being leather. And up until this collection, the 45-year-old London native admitted to The Guardian she disliked using fake leather in her designs because it never looked high-fashion enough.
McCartney, who is the daughter of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, hopes its debut will encourage other fashion designers to make green decisions. “I am so excited that we have finally developed fabrics that look just as good as the real thing and therefore genuinely pose a question to the industry about why anyone needs to use leather anymore,” the long-time vegetarian told reporters backstage, according to The Guardian.
One of the reasons young activist celebrities are choosing to wear the British brand is because of its environmentally friendly mission. Two weeks before the “skin-free skin” launch, Emma Watson stepped out in Paris on February 19 wearing a Stella McCartney coat and shared her outfit on her The Press Tour Instagram account, which has over 400k followers.
As well as chronicling her chic outfits throughout the Beauty and the Beast promotional tour, the account is also used to bring awareness to eco-fashion brands. As a result, the Beauty and the Beast actress praised McCartney, as well as four other brands.
“Stella McCartney is the world’s first luxury brand that is committed to producing products that do not use leather, skins, feathers or fur,” the Brown University graduate, 26, wrote, in her caption. “Instead Stella has spent years developing ways of using materials such as regenerated cashmere, recycled fabrics, organic cotton and forest-friendly fabrics.”
Here’s hoping other fashion designers follow McCartney’s innovative ways!
