Stella McCartney Designs For GapKids And BabyGap
The British Designer Creates Her First Kidswear Range
Oct 26, 2009
From 2nd November 2009 all those fashion conscious mummies out there will be able to ensure their offspring are also suitably attired in designer clothes when Stella McCartney’s range for GapKids and BabyGap hits the stores. There are 70 designs in the collection, consisting of both boys and girls wear, with pieces for newborn babies all the way up to twelve year olds.
Talking about her debut childrenswear line with Gap, McCartney says, “We’re a designer brand doing kids’ clothes, so surely you just want to take the key pieces and shrink them down.” Which is exactly what she did as the kiddies collection includes little replica’s of her womenswear jumper dresses from the A/W 2009 show, and other 'grown-up' pieces including military jackets and delicate dusky pink dresses.
Yummy Mummy
Stella McCartney knows who she is designing for as she became a mum herself in February 2005 with the birth of her first child, Miller Alasdhair James Willis. He was followed in December 2006 by her daughter Bailey Linda Olwyn Willis and then her second son Beckett Robert Lee Willis, who was born in January 2008.
She admits that her own children influenced her designs in a big way, as they are her target audience, she says, “Halfway through production, my eldest started going, ‘I don’t want to wear that.’ And it was, like, bing, a light bulb went on in my head and I thought, ‘Back to the drawing board.”
From Famous Daughter To Successful Designer
A vegetarian and passionate crusader for animal rights, Stella McCartney uses no fur or leather in her collections. Her famous surname has been both a help and hindrance – her father is Sir Paul McCartney of The Beatles – as she has had to work hard to prove she is a talented designer and not just where she is due to her industry connections. She graduated from the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 1995 and then in 1997 was hired by the French fashion house Chloé to be their head designer.
Over the years she has more than silenced her critics with the commercial success of her designs. In 2001 she went to start her own label under the Gucci group umbrella, with her sales last year rising 70% on the previous year.
Design Collaborations
She currently designs her Stella McCartney mainline womenswear collection and a women’s sportswear range for Adidas, along with a perfume and organic skincare line, entitled Care. Her collaboration with Gap is not her first foray into the lower priced high street market, in 2005 she designed a capsule collection for Swedish chain H&M, which sold out in days.
Through designing with high street stores and sports brands, McCartney is making her high-end designer wears available at more affordable prices, a clever way to continually increase her brand awareness and popularity and expand her design portfolio.
Sources:
- Times.co.uk – stella mccartney interview
- Marieclaire.co.uk
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