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Children of public figures have it easy in many respects, but they often struggle with achieving success independent of their famous parents. Their accomplishments, no matter how great, are usually discounted and attributed to “fame by association.” That was the case for designer Stella McCartney, daughter of musician Paul McCartney and animal rights activist and photographer Linda McCartney. 

As Paul McCartney once said, “Nobody is Beatle-proof.” We beg to differ.

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Stella’s Yesterday

Fashion has always featured in Stella McCartney’s life. At the age of 13, she began making her own clothes for fun. By 16, she was interning at Christian Lacroix. 

She went to school at the famed art college Central Saint Martins (other alums include John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Zac Posen and Riccardo Tisci), where she graduated in 1995 with a degree in fashion design.

Stella’s graduate collection was one of the flashiest debuts a fashion school has ever seen. Supermodels Yasmine Le Bon, Naomi Campbell, and Kate Moss strutted in McCartney’s designs to the tune of Stella May Day, a song written by her father especially for the show. 

Two years later, Stella was appointed Creative Director at Chloé. There, according to Suzy Menkes, she “confounded the cynics who had said she had been hired only for her name.” Stella revived Chloé’s girly freshness, with her first collection bringing in five times the expected number of orders. Her brief stint at Chloe was a life-changing experience, allowing her to be seen as more than just the daughter of a Beatle.

In 2001, McCartney launched her eponymous fashion brand, showing her first collection of womenswear in October of that same year. Today, her collections include women’s ready-to-wear, eyewear, fragrance, swimwear accessories and childrenswear. More recently, McCartney released a menswear line.