Team Stella: Miranda Kerr opened the show in Paris with Paul McCartney and Natalia Vodianova in attendance.
Stella McCartney’s Paris Fashion Week presentation always promises to be exciting – her famous posse of pals include Rhianna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Moss. McCartney’s celeb friends are champions of her brand and ensure Stella’s work is a regular fixture on the red carpet. Added to the stardust that team Stella sprinkle over the front row is the presence of a rock’n’roll legend, who just happens to be the designer’s father, there to cheer her on. However, famous mates and a Beatle dad does not a great collection make.
For the most part Stella McCartney has carved a niche in the market for the busy, hardworking women who want stylish, practical clothes that look great no matter the scenario, and we in the YCB offices love her for that. Stella’s masterful tailoring and subtle use of colour ensures that her customer gets what she exactly what she wants and the SS14 collection didn’t fail to deliver. What the collection lacked in sartorial originality it made up for in unpretentious wearability. McCartney draws on her own experience as a working mum to make clothes that are fit for purpose for the professional woman.
Miranda Kerr opened the show in a cats-eye tipped, super-round sunglasses, a navy t-shirt and a high-waisted skirt with a panel of sheer chiffon flimsily attached, scintillatingly high up her toned thighs. As the modelling superstar prowled along the runway, the gaps in the skirt revealed tantalising glimpses of leg, giving the otherwise safe look a flash of danger.
Echo’s of McCartney’s work with Addidas was present in sporty shapes; silk suits in navy, nude and maroon were reminiscent of refined shell suits. The sports-day influence continued with oversized bomber jackets, and sweatband stripes on the waists of pretty day dresses. McCartney’s synonymous tailoring predictably emerged with masculine slouchy suits in navy and nude. There were some dalliances with print – floral brocade and snakeskin devore pieces added depth and femininity to the streamlined, sporty aesthetic.
Undoubtedly the hero pieces of the show were the lace dresses that closed the presentation. Here at Your Coffee Break, we predict that demand for these pieces to go through the roof. Stella’s clothes may not be revolutionary or era defining, but they have the sort of allure that guarantees commercial success. Celebrity kudos aside, Stella has got the designing chops and business know-how to create clothes that women want to have on their backs. We hope to be first in line for a beautiful lace slip dress, but if we miss out we’ll happily be rocking the round cats-eye sunnies come spring.
Stella McCartney Spring/Summer 2014 show, with interview:
