Nottingham Guardian - Stella McCartney turns fashion show into green tech marketplace

NYSE - LSE
RBGPF -19.57% 69 $
CMSD -0.71% 22.5 $
BCE -0.08% 25.23 $
RELX 2.38% 32.75 $
GSK 0.72% 54.23 $
RYCEF -2.09% 14.35 $
BCC 0.69% 74.95 $
CMSC -0.44% 22.67 $
NGG 2.11% 83.69 $
RIO 2.45% 88.82 $
BTI 0.79% 58.26 $
AZN 2.82% 193.88 $
VOD 1.43% 14.7 $
JRI 1.01% 11.92 $
BP 1.41% 47.35 $
Stella McCartney turns fashion show into green tech marketplace
Stella McCartney turns fashion show into green tech marketplace / Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA - AFP

Stella McCartney turns fashion show into green tech marketplace

British designer Stella McCartney took over a Paris marketplace on Monday and turned it into a showcase for new greener textiles while honouring her rock star parents' time in 1970s band Wings.

Text size:

Held in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, it was designed as a "market where fruits are worn instead of eaten", according to the show notes.

Some 20 stalls lined up alongside the runway showed off "cruelty-free and conscious material innovations", including several types of vegan leather, organic cotton and a seaweed-based yarn grown from regenerative kelp.

Getting these new technologies off the ground has proved difficult, however.

McCartney backed a US start-up, Bolt Threads, that was considered a leader in mushroom-based leather, but it announced in July that it was halting production after failing to gather enough investment.

As for the clothes in her spring-summer 2024 collection, some were inspired by her parents -- Paul and Linda McCartney -- during their time on tour with Wings in the 1970s, including ruffled shirts and crystal-encrusted waistcoats.

It was a highly varied collection, with a relaxed but high-end take on jeans and croptops, a sumptuous cape over a casual white tank top, and a silk gown gathered in two billowing balloon shapes around the shoulders.

McCartney said 95 percent of the outfits were made from "responsible materials".

The A-list attendees included Hollywood stars Cate Blanchett, Robert Downey and Chris Rock.

"The eclectic, ageless collection blurs the lines between genders and generations -- reinterpreting pieces from Stella's archive as well as those she borrowed from her parents, and (that) her daughters now borrow from her," the press release said.

W.P.Walsh--NG