Unconfined and Eco-Divine
Unconfined and Eco-Divine
Stella McCartney Spring/Summer 2023
By: Tessa Dunlop
Stella McCartney is never stranger to revolutionizing the fashion world. Since her first solo collection in 2001, she has yet to disappoint in the fields of tailoring, aesthetics, and elegance. As always, sustainability is at the forefront of her collections, and this time, she executed her intentions precisely. In a post-show interview, McCartney declared her recent collection as 87% sustainable, this being her highest proportion of sustainability to this date. This collection has a way of refreshing the visual sense by bringing luxurious details and flawless finishes to the limelight. Filled with chic and contemporary garments, McCartney’s new collection once again proves that you can be fashion-forward while being fashion friendly.
This Fall, Stella McCartney brought us a refreshing taste of yet contrarily retrospective looks from her colorful runway to her Y2K aesthetically inspired pieces. Finely tailored and cut, the details in her looks were nothing short of cutting-edge. Sophisticated, fitted garments bounced down the runway in an upbeat nature with poise and flair. From blazer jackets that framed the models’ shoulders and swallowed the feminine figure whole, to timeless flowing gowns that swayed and pranced to the buoyant confidence of the music, to jeweled braziers from her Chloé Spring 2000 collection, Stella McCartney embodied the very nature of effortless versatility with exquisite presentation.
An abstract atmosphere is created in the fashion show that McCartney invented. The primary colors red, blue, and yellow paint the pavement with carpet in the courtyard of the Paris Pompidou Center runway in geometric form, outlining the path for new ideas to make way. Though the colorful runway is in dedication to the Pompidou Center itself, and its structuralist outdoor design, similarity is experienced in Piet Mondrian’s impactful compositions in abstract art. Mondrian’s work titled “Composition with Red Blue and Yellow” circa 1930 exhibits the same geometric playfulness and experience as Stella’s recent catwalk. Both McCartney and Mondrian are pioneers of their craft. As Mondrian pioneered neoplasticism in abstract art, Stella has likewise pioneered the history of fashion sustainability in its entirety.
With grace and sensuality, this collection has a simultaneous sense of androgyny and duality in gender expression. A combination of cinched corset waists and stiff boxy shoulders framing flowing garments and delicate heels, this collection fully encapsulates the present day revolution of minimizing all gender normalities. The styles introduced have a way of exhibiting both undone masculine and delicate feminine energies at the same time. Oversized dress coats conceal the femininity of the models in a deliberate manner as details of divinely laced satin gowns and skirts dance beneath, gazing at you through the assertive garments that overtake them. This duality is consistent throughout the entire collection as many of the looks contain stiffly structured and bulky shouldered tops in various forms alongside loose, unconfined bottoms in the expressions of skirts, dresses, and pants.
Changing history was something that was absolute in Stella McCartney’s newest assembly. From androgynistic designs, to abstract art reference, to making couture more sustainable, the history of fashion continues to be transformed by this designer. “Change the History” is a term used by many, but is a slogan in branding for Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. Nara’s work is used by McCartney in several of her pieces during her latest show to add a contemporary flair to the already modernized statements that are made through Stella’s designs. About halfway through the show, a model with fire-red, sleek straight hair strides down the runway with confidence, wearing a sweater with an undone, makeshift, and even distressed ambience. The words “Change the History” are slapped across the center of the conceptual and collaborative composition of a sweater in fearless red urgency. The sleeves of the garment are an overextension of the model’s limbs that hang past her hips, skirted with scarlet knitted cuffs. This statement art piece in collaboration with Yoshitomo Nara was an inclusion that was imperative for getting McCartney’s revelation across clearly, and showed beautiful versatility from the designer altogether.
I am thrilled with what I have experienced through interpreting Miss McCartney’s latest message, and I cannot wait to follow her journey in sharing sustainability with the world of fashion. I have never understood how sustainable fashion could be so sophisticated until this exhibition. “Changing the History” is something that Stella is manifesting for us all.
