‘I hate how elitist my industry is’ says Stella McCartney as she unveils even-more-eco forthcoming H&M collab

May 7 will see the arrival of the latest in H&M’s long series of big-name designer collaborations and this one is remarkable both for the fact that’s it’s a second-time-partnership with Stella McCartney, but also for the level of sustainable materials used.

McCartney was one of the first names H&M linked up with after introducing its collab series early this millennium and this new collection lands 21 years after their first one.

It builds on the legacy of the earlier outing and fittingly for a return partnership, includes both new pieces and archive hits. 

Importantly, as mentioned, the sustainability element has been ramped up and echoes some of the features found in McCartney’s own high-end collections (for instance, not just the fabrics but Falabella chain trims being made from recycled materials).

Archive-meets-modern

McCartney said that overall she sees the collection as a “journey through my fashion history”. 

So what do we get this time? Think oversized shirts, roomy trench coats and tailoring, jewel-adorned prints and logo tops. There are knitted dresses and tops with the aforementioned signature Falabella chain at the neckline, as well as a long white dress with a cape-style sleeve that twists at the hem, giving the appearance of a cape dress. Partywear, denim, as well as mesh dresses and tops in a bold archival cherry print will also be available. 

And in the tradition of McCartney sending out T-shirts with messages on the runway, there’s a white mini tee embellished with studs reading ‘Rock Royalty’.

Accessories include small bags, oversized totes and a bag in chocolate tones with a chain strap. It’s one of multiple places in the collection where that chain appears (it’s also used for necklaces and earrings made from recycled metal in mixed tones, as well as loafers with chain detailing at the front).

As that suggests, recycled materials overall are a big priority with the recycled content joined by organic cottons, wool certified to the RWS standard, and an “innovative” use of raw materials for coated fabrics, such as industrial corn and recycled vegetable oil.

Sustainability, Sustainability, Sustainability

At a press conference in London ahead of the full unveiling of the collection, McCartney was fresh from receiving her Légion d’honneur from French President Emmanuel Macron (which she said was “amazing” despite her tendency to suffer from imposter syndrome!) 

She was joined in London by H&M’s creative advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson and emphasised how she’s still wearing pieces from the original H&M collab 21 years ago, but also emphasised how important it was to her to create a second collab collection.

“I get asked to do things like this quite often, and on the whole, I say no, because it’s not normally the right partner with the right set of beliefs, systems or standards that I would want to partner with,” she said as a prelude to the explaining at length how she feels H&M is the right partner. 

Twenty-one years ago she’d “stipulated a very clear list of requirements, and they were all around sustainability. [That] was very much a concept that I’ve led in my career, very much infiltrating from within and having conversations with people that are like the ‘devil’ in a sense, and then trying to change them into shifting in a cleaner way of working and a more conscious way of working”. 

McCartney was pleased that back then that H&M “managed, to their credit, to deliver on the sustainability. And it sold out, a huge success. But… one of the reasons I said yes to coming back after all this time was that H&M didn’t just leave it there, because I think a lot of other people could have [said] ‘OK, great, we’ve used her name. She’s made us look good in sustainability, and now we’re not going to practice it anymore”.

H&M didn’t take that approach, however, and “that was one of the reasons for me to want to come back”.

Johannson added that “one of the reasons why we collaborated again is to show what progress we have made and that Stella inspired us to be better. We started with organic cotton… and a few years after that, we were the biggest buyer of organic cotton. Today, all the cotton we use is actually organic, recycled or better-sourced, which is huge”.

McCartney was also happy that coming back for a second collab meant there were things that could be done that weren’t possible first time.

“We had some crystals on things, and when I look at this today, we’ve got 80% recycled glass and crystals. But back then it wasn’t even a conversation, those just would have been [standard] crystals. They would have not been recycled. There certainly weren’t any suppliers that you could support or buy into. But what I love about this now, we obviously were going to do better and do more. [I said] ‘I really want you to look at these suppliers, because I want you to give them a business opportunity and swap out some others. It’s meaningful when H&M order, it can be life-changing for an innovator”.

Johannson agreed, saying “we are a big company, we can make a big change, and want to be part of the solution”.

Style-wise, McCartney insisted that she “really wanted to make it quite gender fluid, because I take men’s suits all the time, so anyone can wear it. I definitely wanted to have a solution-driven wardrobe. It’s a real ‘superstars of Stella’ [offer] this time around”.

Anti-elitist

Also important to her was the ability to democratise her designs: “I want a wider audience. This is one of the reasons I did it [the] first time. But I want a younger, wider audience to have access to my stuff. I hate how elitist my industry is. I hate that working in a sustainable way, sourcing better, growing mushroom leathers means that my price points are higher, you know, because I am sourcing and supplying and making in a much more costly way, and I can’t soak it all up in my margin if I want to have a healthy business. For me, one of the really great things here is when the first one sold out in minutes, it was so exciting. I see it in the street, and the resale value the next day. Everything about this is good. Everything is on message for me.”

She’s also bought in enthusiastically to the educational element, saying: “Information is key, I like educating people. So I was adamant. I want[ed] facts on those swing tags. I want whoever’s coming at this that doesn’t know even what the word ‘sustainable’ means. I want to go ‘wait a minute, that’s a recycled polyester’. And then when [they] go to the other fast fashion brand, that’s just ‘polyester’, what does that mean?”

There’s clearly a lot riding on this collab beyond just selling some clothes, shoes and accessories. But commercial reality is still undeniably the major part of it so, as always with its big-name collabs, it comes with a full marketing campaign.

Shot by Sam Rock in London, it stars Renee Rapp, Angelina Kendall and Adwoa Aboah. The images convey a “playful yet natural atmosphere, with a nostalgic feel but a forward-looking vision”.

And forward-looking is key. Johansson summed up the approach both for the collection and the campaign, saying: “Stella has always had a bold vision for fashion, and this collection follows her journey from a young, disruptive voice to a master of timeless design. Every piece in the collection is desirable and tells a unique story.”