Stella McCartney was born on September 13, 1971 in London. She graduated from St. Martin's in 1995 and her senior year collection had the rare honor of being bought by such influential stores as Browns, Joseph, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. She launched her own line right after leaving college.
Her style of combining sharp tailoring with humor and sexy femininity became immediately apparent in her first collection. In 1997, after only two collections, she became the creative director of Chloe's Paris home. Chloe's commercial success has been stratospheric since her arrival, and her collections and advertising campaigns for Chloe's house have been critically acclaimed by buyers and the press alike.
Stella was awarded the VH1 / Vogue Fashion and Music 2000 Designer of the year award. In April 2001, Stella resigned from Chloe and launched her own fashion house under her name in partnership with Gucci Group. In October 2001 Stella showed her Spring / Summer 2002 collection in Paris. Following the collection, Stella announced the launch of a perfume in 2003. In January 2002, Stella and Gary Hume presented a collaboration of handmade t-shirts and dresses at the Thaddaeus Rapac gallery in Paris. Asilent's auction was held overnight and the proceeds were donated to RAWA.