6. Stella McCartney is an eponymous luxury Lifestyle brand, which
was launched under the designer’s name in partnership with
Kering in 2001. Since the brand’s foundation, women’s ready-
to-wear has been the core business, but during the past years
the brand has been successfully extending its portfolio, adding
other product categories such as handbags, with the iconic Fal-
abella bag, shoes, and very promising diversification in Kids.
Product diversification has also been fuelled by long- lasting
successful collaborations, such as the design of sportswear ap-
parel with Adidas or lingerie with Bendon. The brand also de-
veloped eye-wear and fragrances through license agreements,
as well as initiated several one-off collaborations; all have al-
lowed the company to increase brand awareness as well as sales.
First of all the brand Stella McCartney is associated with minimal-
ism, simple silhouettes with sharp tailoring and new technological
materials, like eco-leather, instead of using natural fur and leather.
The desired design philosophy of the brand - to make
clothes that allow women to reflect their inner confidence
and to help women have the confidence to be different and
to be noticed, but in a very subtle, attractive kind of way.
BIOGRAPHY
7.
8. Stella was born September 13 in London, in a
family of ex-Beatles Paul McCartney and pho-
tographer Linda Eastman. Paul and Linda had
a strong desire for their children to know what
life was like in the real world. There were no
nannies and bodyguards around. Stella at-
tended local secondary school in East Sussex.
Stella was interested in fashion since teenager
age, when she was 15 years old; Stella worked
as intern with famous designer Christian Lac-
roix, without any assistance from her parents.
Stella McCartney decided to tie with fashion
all her future life, and chose London’s Cen-
tral Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
The graduation show of Stella McCartney in 1995
gotalotofattentionofpublicandpressfirstlythat
includes her supermodel friends Naomi Camp-
bell and Kate Moss, secondly Mom and Pop Mc-
Cartney in the front row, this would be not just any
graduation show. McCartney used her father’s
tune “ Stella May Day “as one of her runway song.
After Saint Martins College Stella launched
small line of her own from home, line is sim-
ply called Stella. In 1997 two years after Stella
reached very quick success. She was appoint-
ed creative director of French fashion house
Chloe. She was in age of 25. The first Chloe
show – for the spring summer 1998 collection
took place in the fall of 1997, and with it, the
newly appointed chief of design put many of
her critics to rest. The great disaster happened
in Stella McCartney family in 1998, Linda McCa-
rtney died of breast cancer. She had been di-
agnosed in 1995 and since that time she had
a numerous chemotherapy session, but in 1998
she lost her three-year battle. Stella suffered
about dearth of mother for long period of time.
9. In 1999 made well-publicized quote about be-
ing tired of criticism for getting to where she
was only because of her famous father. Specu-
lation began that she might be leaving Chloe.
In 2000 Stella took her first award. She won VH1/
Vogue Designer of the Year Award. The year af-
ter McCartney was appointed by Tom Ford to
join the Gucci group in April 2001 under her own
signature label. They had an agreement that de-
signer would not only control the designs, she
also choose by herself the materials what she
were used, If she did not want to work with leath-
er and fur, she could use sustainable materials,
like eco-skin. After Stella signed the contract with
Gucci group she received new portion of neg-
ative and critics, especially from Karl Lagerfeld
who called her ideals “ Grotesque “. In the same
period of time first collection of Stella McCart-
ney label debuted in Paris to lackluster reviews.
The personal disaster for happened in 2002,
when her father Paul McCartney married Heath-
er Mills, Stella and her sister Mary not pleased
about this wedding, especially because Heather
was known as woman with bad reputation .The
year 2002 proved to be a dramatic one for Mc-
Cartney in other ways, as well. In September, it
saw the opening of her flagship store in, a bit
ironically, New York ‘s meatpacking district at 429
West Fourteen Street. In fact the stalwart vege-
tarian store is situated opposite Frank’s steak-
house and Maggio Beef. The same year Stella
McCartney Collaborated with artist Gary Hume
in handmade t-shirts for a silent auction to ben-
efit RAWA, an organization for Afghan women’s
rights, at the Thaddeus Ropac gallery in Paris.
The year 2003 can be characterized as
one of the most successful year in all as-
pects of her life in carrier and privet life.
On August 30 2003, McCartney’s personal life
reached new high when married boyfriend and
American publisher Alasdhair Willis .The de-
signer launched Absolut Stella campaign with
illustrations by David Remfry also featured
-in her own brand’s ad campaign that same
year. In a same year opened the second Stel-
la’s store in Mayfair, London. In the end of the
year the designer opened third store in West
Hollywood, California. Opening of two stores
in one year can be characterized as grow-
ing success and high developing of a brand.
The year after Stella McCartney received Glam-
our Award for the best Designer of the Year
2004, she won the award as a new but in a same
time very successful designer. In the same year
Stella McCartney began long – term deal with
Adidas collection is called “ Adidas by Stel-
la McCartney“. It’s one of the most successful
collaborations in a history of fashion, which suc-
cessfully working also today. Stella brought a
chic and elegance in typically boring sport wear.
Stella tried to provide collaborations in differ-
10. ent parts also designed specially made cos-
tumes for Madonna’s Reinvention Tour, Annie
Lennox’s summer concert tour and the ward-
robe for Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law in the
film “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.”
In 2005 Stella McCartney collaborated with
cartoonist Robert Crumb on a limited edition
t-shirt. The same year Stella won one more
award – received the Organic style woman.
Once again in 2005, Stella made collaboration
with famous mass-market retailer H&M, the de-
signer spent a lot of time by choosing designs
and discussing which fabrics and trim should be
used. The collection had a great success; it ar-
rived in 400 H&M stores on November and sold
out in minute’s .The year on 2005 brought hap-
piness in private life of Stella Gave birth to the
first child, a boy, Miller Alasdhair James Willis.
At the beginning of 2006 Stella collaborated
with artist Jeff Koons on Spring/Summer 2006
collection using his prints on dresses and acces-
sories shown in Paris. More change became in
March that year when McCartney partnership
took the form of a skiwear collection that made
a debut in the mountains of Aspen. In a same
year McCartney released a second fragrance in
September 2006 called “ Stella in Two “. The
perfume was unique in it separated out the two
key notes found in original Stella scent. In addi-
tion to the launch of a second perfume , McCa-
rtney and her husband had something else to be
excited about later that year . Stella gave birth to
a second child, a girl, Bailey Linda Olwyn Wills.
Stella Received more awards in 2007 – both the
Elle Style Award and the British Style Award for
Best Designer of the year. In 2007 new happi-
ness happened in family of Stella. Gave birth to
her third child, a boy, Beckett Robert Lee Wills.
11. In a same time Stella McCartney Ltd. recorded its
first serious profit since launching and worked on
a limited edition travel collection for LeSportsac.
The year 2008 came to close with a busi-
ness high. The label created first serious prof-
it with pretax earning of 1.1 million pound
StellaMcCartneyhasarealcoupin2009whenshe
was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most in-
fluential people. She was only person in the fash-
ionindustrytomakethelistinayearthatincluding
such ranges personalities such Barack Obama.
In June 2009 president of Gap children appoint-
ed Stella to create a collections for kids. Design-
ing children’s clothing for the Gap was a new
challenge for designer. Stella used her own chil-
dren as inspiration. Her limited edition for Gap
Kids quickly sold out. During the gap line cre-
ation McCartney also planned the release of her
third perfume in late august of 2009 Stella which
called Stella Nude, U2 front man Bono’s wife
tried to sue over the use of the word Nude in the
perfume ‘s name. In a late December of 2009 Mc-
Cartney another new experience, she designed
a T-Shirt for a world AIDS Day . Her design was
a part of the Gap (PRODUCT) RED collection, a
merger of fashion and activism. The t-shirt was
a simple classic white one a Gap standard – but
designed with red beaded necklace. Toward
the end of 2009 Stella McCartney collaborat-
ed with British cult singer and fellow vegetarian
Morrissey for a line of leather free shoes and de-
signed a capsule collection featuring limited edi-
tion prints by artist Peter Blake for Net-a-porter.
In January 2010 McCartney took a turn toward
the fanciful. She Designed a limited edition neck-
lace and bracelet inspired by Tim Burton’s Alice
in Wonderland film. But unfortunately not all year
was happy as a beginning .The great tragedy
happened in a life of Stella McCartney in Febru-
ary 2010 when friend and fellow fashion design-
12. er Alexander McQueen was a found dead in his
home by apparent suicide at the age of 40. Stel-
la dedicated her fashion show fall/winter 2010 to
Alexander McQueen, neutral colors like black,
gray and camel dominated in this collection.
The beginning of 2011 can be characterized as
a first injection of art in Stella McCartney brand
.The designer created the costumes for the New
York City Ballet’s Ocean’s Kingdom, the bal-
let collaboration between Paul McCartney and
Peter Martins which premiered in New York.
Also In 2011 all Stella McCartney’s sunglasses
compliment her collections and are eco-friend-
ly; which has since also expanded into optical.
In 2012 Stella McCartney was appointed Team
GB’s Creative Director by adidas – the first
time in the history of the games that a lead-
ing fashion designer has designed the apparel
for a country’s team across all competitions for
both the Olympic and the Paralympic Games.
In celebration of London in 2012, Stella Mc-
Cartney presented a one-off capsule eve-
ning collection during London Fashion Week.
In 2013 Stella McCartney designed exclusive
t-shirts for the Red Nose Day 2013 campaign to
benefit Comic Relief charity in the UK. Launched
the Stella McCartney x goop capsule collec-
tion, a luxury designer collaboration available
exclusively on goop.com, and the digital and
e-commerce site founded by Gwyneth Paltrow.
In the beginning of 2014 she launched a partner-
ship with The Nature Conservancy and Ovis XXI
introducing new luxury sustainable wool for Au-
tumn 2014 originating from Patagonia in support
of the restoration and conservation of the land.
Collaborated with English artist Gary Hume
for the Autumn 2014 collection featuring his
illustrations on ready-to-wear pieces. Also
there was the collaboration with Jaguar. The
plan was to drape the company’s baby sport
scar - Jaguar XE - in the designer’s Super-
hero print from her Spring 2015 collection.
13.
14. SPRING-SUMMER 2015
The last spring summer collection was present-
ed in Paris, in September. It was consisted of
minimal, functional and go-getting basics of
daytime but at the same time hand embroi-
dered organza dresses with floral prints, which
add the since of spring, sun and happiness to
the collection’s mood and make it more girlish.
In this collection Stella McCartney probably
wanted to show even more modern, seductive
and self-assured woman than before translat-
ed it through oversized jackets, asymmetrical
cuts and bold accessories, but at the same time
this woman looked a bit unnatural. Stella Mc-
Cartney also added color and pattern – pale
Madras checks or watercolor mixes of flowers.
The key items of the collection – different piec-
es made from denim make us to understand
that the brand continues to take place in the
minimalistic sportswear niche. In terms of styl-
ing the models looked rather girlish with their
light hair and soft knotted sandals and tried to
complement the mood of the whole collection,
which was based on movement, freshness, in-
finity and fluidity. The music during the fash-
ion show was very energetic and it finished the
atmosphere of this event. It was “Imprint” by
Must Die! feat. Tkay Maidza, “Bugatti” by Tiga
As Suzi Menkes wrote “Perhaps only a strong
female designer can associate visible flesh with
freedom, rather than seduction”. But if you look
closer it seems that the collection rather shows
not the freedom, but the imposed idea of it.
15.
16.
17. FALL-WINTER 2014
The typical and recognizable style of Stella Mc-
Cartney apparel was totally represented in the
fall winter collection 2014-2015. It was all about
strong and controlled femininity, effortless, and
minimalism. The silhouettes of garment were
rather fluid, had soft circular shapes, but in the
same time very strong and accurate. It was used
a lot of different additional elements such as zip-
pers, embroideries and so on, which negatively
affected on the whole picture of the collection’s
mood. There were used mostly dark colors (black,
dark green, burgundy), but also off-white, pale
blue, blush pink, indigo, beige and pure white.
The sporty theme was seen again by using moun-
taineering cords as the embroidered motifs on
storm grey tweeds. There were also a lot of ele-
mentsofmenswearsuchaspantssportedstirrups
—elasticbandswrappedunderplatformshoes—
hybrids of an office shoe mixed with a sneaker in
red, black, beige, gold and a beautiful pale blue.
All these things help us to understand that
Stella McCartney imagines her target client as
the androgynous woman, very confident, who
knows for sure what she wants to do in this
life and makes everything to achieve her goal.
Theappareliswearablebutthereisnowsomething
catchy in it what makes you want to buy it. It looks
very comfortable but not sexy and lively enough.
18. Stella McCartney advertising campaigns are to-
tally different; they don’t have any common idea
anddon’tmatcheachover.Theabsenceofstrong
identity through the communication reveals the
audience misunderstanding of the message.
On of the distinctive features is usage only the
name “Stella “ without surname to emphasize
Stella McCartney’s independence as a person
from her father’s surname. Stella usually works
with photographs Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
Facesforhercampaignsindifferenttimesbecame
Natalia Vodianova, Suvi Koponen and Kate Moss.
For Stella McCartney‘s Fall 2010 ad campaign,
the designer has invited British artist Barry
Reigate to illustrate the ads featuring Natalia
Vodianova. McCartney told she wanted to show
“something direct and simple, using Natalia and
key collection pieces, contrasted by humor and
a human touch in the treatment of the logo.”
This time the ads feature Reigate’s cartoonish
lettering, top hats, paint splotches, pumpkins
and spiders, which appear all over McCartney’s
logo and the clothing (which includes some of
pieces from her runway show including the latest
pieces). As a result the final images look weird
and childish. They don’t transmit the idea and
philosophy of the brand and don’t show it in a
good way. This campaign was published in such
magazines, as: British, French and Italian Vogue,
Love, Another Magazine and V Magazine.
ThisadcampaignFW2013madejournalistspoint-
ed, “Stella gets surreal” (fashion.telegraph.uk)
Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott shot Suvi Koponen
and Chiharu Okunugi in two London scenes, one
featuring Okunugi in a swimming pool wearing
an oversize plaid coat, and the other showing Ko-
ponen in a giant purple coat on a London street.
“This season I wanted to capture the spirit of
the city and the streets; an expression of urban
life and real, everyday moments. We wanted to
have a sense of fun and freedom, then contrast
it with something slightly unexpected,” said
McCartney, who styled the campaign herself.
“There is a bit of surrealism, which may even
be a bit strange.” But actually it is difficult to
find something surreal in this photo, it looks
more about badly linked with each other imag-
es which don’t represent the brand DNA. This
problem is common not only for this particular
avertising campaign, but can be noticed in other.
ADVERTISING
19.
20. Suvi Koponen has landed the Stella Mc-
Cartney Spring 2014 campaign photo-
graphed by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott.
The Finnish beauty had closed the spring runway
showinParisbytheamazingphotosofthismodel.
Suvi Maria Koponen was born March 26, 1988 in
Vantaa, Finland. She quickly rose to must-book
model status after winning the 2005 Mallikoulu
(comparative to America’s Next Top Model) con-
test in Finland. Her runway debut came during
Fall/Winter 2006/2007 Fashion Week, and since
then Suvi has been walking the major labels,
booking the coveted campaigns and featured in
editorials for Vogue and other top magazines.
For the FW 2014 campaign the photos were
taken by photographic duo Mert Alas and
Marcus Piggott, helping McCartney achieve
her goal to “escape into something surreal”
with the shoot. After six previous campaigns
together, designer feels that Kate is the per-
fect “Stella McCartney woman”, making her
the obvious choice for the new campaign.
Stella said: “Capturing Kate’s dream and the
moments we have shared over the years.
When she screams Stella, it is a moment, re-
minding me of the years we have both shared
as friends, something surreal to escape into,
fashion has to make us all dream sometimes!”
21.
22. Stella McCartney is a 50/50 joint venture part-
nership between Ms. Stella McCartney and
Kering established in 2001. The brand’s ready-
to-wear, accessories, lingerie, fragrance, kids
and adidas by Stella McCartney collections are
available through 41 other free-standing stores
including London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris,
Rome, Milan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and
Beijing as well around 600 wholesale accounts
in key cities worldwide. The collections are now
distributed in over 50 countries through 609
wholesale accounts including specialty shops,
and department stores, as well as shipping
SHOPS
to 100 countries online. Stores reflect an inti-
mate, personal and architectural atmosphere
to house the Stella McCartney collections.
Simple material combinations, sculpturally con-
trasted with a unique play on spacing, have
been used in to illustrate Stella’s signature style
combinations of sharpness and femininity. Most
of the stores design is including maple wood,
brass and marble. Stores are exemplifying the
designer’s commitment to sustainability (exam-
ple – China, Beijing), where Stella McCartney has
paid serious attention to the issue of the choices:
location, materials and design of these stores.
23.
24.
25. Iconic jacket
Stella was showed interest in
fashion from early childhood.
When she was a teenager she
worked for famous French de-
signer Christian Lacroix. Her
first significant piece was a
jacket she made from an artifi-
cial-suede fabric. After Lacroix,
Stella continued her studying
of fashion and she was working
for a short period of time for
British designer Betty Jackson.
During her education in Saint
Martins College she was work-
ing for a shop Savile Row, as a
tailor. She started her first day
of work with tailored a men’s
suit. She was inspired of a pro-
cess, so this experience in Sa-
vile Row became an idea for
creation woman androgynous
jacket, which combines femi-
nine and masculine features.
As a result the jacket became
one of the iconic products
of Stella McCartney brand.
Falabella Bag
“The bag of the dream».
The Falabella bag was named
in honor of the smallest horse
breeds and it is the bag of the
dream for each woman. The
Falabella Bag is one of the pop-
ular products and bestseller of
Stella McCartney brand. The
wide range of colors and metal-
lic chains allows to each woman
choosing what she wants . The
Falabella bag can play a variety
of roles, at is designed using
the idea of the transformer bag.
It can be used as the everyday
bag and in a same time for
evening or some events. The
falabella bag one of the most
favorite bags of celebrities and
popular fashion bloggers now.
Platform Shoes
The flat shoes represent the
idea of Stella McCartney’s
sport chic. The main goal of the
creation was to make model of
shoes, which can allow every
woman to feel easy, full of en-
ergy and comfortable wearing
them, but in same time this
model is wearable for party and
evening events. These shoes
perfectly reflect the idea of de-
sired target client – an active
forever-busy working woman,
who wears comfortable clothes
but at the same time wants
to look modern and stylish.
ICONIC PRODUCTS
26. Gwyneth Paltrow is an American actress, singer,
and food writer. Paltrow has portrayed support-
ing, as well as lead roles, in films such as The Tal-
ented Mr. Ripley, The Royal Tenenbaums, Proof,
for which she earned a Golden Globe nomina-
tion as Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama.
Stella and Gwyneth have been known each
other for the long period of time but, but only
in the 2013 they had their first collaboration.
They created collection of clothes for the web-
site goop.com owned by Gwyneth Paltrow.
Kate Moss is an English well-known model.
Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part
of the heroin chic fashion trend. She is known
for her waifish figure, and role in size zero fash-
ion. She is the important person in a life of Stel-
la McCartney. They are in friendship for a long
period from the time when Stella was a student
at the Saint Martins College. Kate took a part
as a model in the Stella McCartney’s gradua-
tion show, and during next 20 years she often
participated in the Stella McCartney’s fashion
shows and advertising campaigns. Kate Moss
became a face of brand “Stella McCartney “ 7
times at all. They also organized together ac-
tion for supporting woman with breast cancer.
PEOPLE
27. Liv Tyler is an American actress and former child
model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith’s lead
singer, Steven Tyler, and model Bebe Buell.
Tyler achieved international recognition as
a result of her portrayal of Elf maiden Ar-
wen Undómiel in the Lord of the Rings
The friendship between those 2 famous wom-
an easy to explain, both of the daughters of fa-
mous musicians, they are friend from childhood.
Liv Tyler shares the views of sustainability with
Stella McCartney and often takes place in dif-
ferent events organized by Stella McCartney.
Madonna is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. She achieved pop-
ularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and im-
agery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Madonna has long friend rela-
tionships with Stella McCartney. She always attends at all Stella McCartney’s fashion show
presentations, catwalks, and important events. Stella made the wedding dress for Madonna, with
cost about 34 000 $. The wardrobe of Madonna is full of garments of Stella McCartney’s brand.
28.
29. Gucci Group
The brand Stella McCartney is
positioned as the eco-fashion
luxury brand, but on the oth-
er hand it belongs to Gucci
group, which is the largest pro-
ducer of leather goods. Stella
McCartney explained her join-
ing of Gucci group as she had
planned to be the educator
to other brands in promotion
of eco-fashion, but actually it
doesn’t help to influence on
other brands or clients in terms
of becoming more sustainable.
Before consumers understand
by themselves the importance
of thinking about the environ-
mental problems it is very dif-
ficult to have the strong brand
identity based on sustainability.
“Fathers daughter”
The Stella McCartney’s success
is often perceived as not for her
own deserts but because of her
father is the well-known great
singer and past participant of
legendary Beatles. She always
wanted other people to think
about her only due to her per-
sonal achievements, but in the
reality it is not so easy. She used
another surname when she was
studying in London’s Central
Saint Martins College of Art
and Design and she even want-
ed to call her brand “Stella”
instead of “Stella McCartney”.
Although now she is the very fa-
mous designer, still some peo-
ple think that her sucsees is ab-
solutely depends on her father.
Lack of emotions
The real reason why custom-
er should buy Stella McCa-
rtney apparel doesn’t exist
now, but without it, there is no
chance to become the brand
that will exist for a long years.
The brand Stella McCartney is
rather successful nowadays, be-
cause it takes place in minimal-
istic sportswear niche, which is
popular. But all the trends are
decreasing through the time
and to have the strong brand
for long years it has to be found
something, which will be deep-
ly connected with the strong
emotions. It should be some-
thing new and not obvious,
which can help to distinguish
the brand from its competitors.
PROBLEMS
Among four these defined problems firstly it is important to concentrate on
the most serious, that the brand doesn’t have strong identity and personali-
ty, in terms of feeling and emotions within the minds of consumers. Stella Mc-
Cartney’s customers don’t have the emotional link and can’t characterize the
brand from emotional side immediately. Generally people lost the understand-
ing what the brand is all about. Stella McCartney’s brand needs to be develop
through innovation and awareness of its external environment, brand personali-
ty and customer needs. The main task is to find the reason why brand must exist
in the future - to redefine its market position, target customer and strategy, but
in the same time to keep main ideological views of the Stella as the sustainability.
32. MINIMALISM
As it was mentioned earlier, brand Stella Mc-
Cartney nowadays takes place in minimalistic
sportswear niche on the market, which is rather
popular at this moment. Considering that each
trend and phenomenon sooner or later comes to
the end, there is a necessity to find out or to try
predicting a new trend, which can influence the
future of the society. But to anticipate future it is
very important to understand and analyses the
present. That is why there is the general infor-
mation about the minimalistic movement below.
Minimalism is one of the most influential styles to-
day – from design and architecture to music and
literature. The most simple and precise definition
of the minimalism - the less is more. There is a
popular opinion that minimalism was born from
the poverty but it is not true. Minimalism is more
connected with a style of the super-rich because
the rich can have anything and that’s why they
can buy only the best items (the most simple and
elegant). Minimalism is not the cheap option.
The minimalist movement started from the De
Stijl (Dutch for “The Style“), also known as neo-
plasticism, an artistic movement in the Neth-
erlands in the beginning of 20-th century. This
movement existed only for a short time but
layed the foundations of minimalism. The ma-
jor principles advocated by De Stijl movement
are simplified visual compositions to the verti-
cal and horizontal directions, and use of only
primary colors (together with black and white).
On of the most important figures of minimalism
movement was German architect Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, one of the pioneering masters of
modernarchitecture..Heaimedforsimplicityand
clarity - the use of modern construction materi-
als and the reduction of structural frameworks.
His principles are still in use today – not only
in architecture but in design as well. Tradition-
al Japanese design with its simplicity and clean
forms is considered another predecessor of
minimalism. Some of the more prominent mini-
malists include Buckminster Fuller, Dieter Rams,
Donald Judd. Over the time minimalism evolved
into neo-minimalism, that is the utilization high-
tech materials in order to affirm their reading
as designed objects rather than simple objects.
Neo minimalism is again about simplicity of
form and color but compared to traditional min-
imalism, it uses much more colors and shapes.
Neo minimalists use various shades of color but
the total number of shades is strictly limited.
33. Minimalism in fashion has cer-
tain characteristic features, such as:
1. Impersonal formality (featureless and anony-
mous/ plainness and simplicity) - the Minimalism
is the opposite of expressivism, so the typical
works are cold, and show little emotion. Mini-
malist designers concentrate on the specifics
of form and fabric rather than the function of
the garment as a body covering. They do this
through processes such as accurate reductiv-
ism and the utilization of non-emotive design.
Accurate reductivism - even though the con-
struction is incredibly complex and compre-
hensive, the final works look very simple.
Non-emotive design - non-emotive design
elements are usually typified by geometric
composition and/or the use of non-conven-
tional materials. Extreme simplicity often be-
gins from simple lines and geometric shapes.
2. Anti-figurative forms - the idea of a ‘fig-
ure’ in terms of gender and human form
from clothing (oversized, androgynous).
The sociological approach to minimalism is also
very important and useful in the further new
brand strategy development. Summarizing the
whole found information about this issue we
can make the conclusion that the minimalism
from the sociological and psychological point
of view is perceived as the way to get freedom.
First of all it is the freedom from any passion to
possess - brings freedom from the all-consum-
ing passion to possess. It steps off the treadmill
of consumerism and dares to seek happiness
elsewhere. It values relationships, experiences,
and soul-care. And in doing so, it finds life. At
the same time minimalism can be perceived as
the freedom from modern mania and duplici-
ty, as one of the way to be more independent.
34. Escapism and blurred reality
Living in the world of consum-
erism, grown up responsibility
and the world, overloaded by
different types of information,
people are still searching for
the way to escape from this re-
ality and find the place where
they can feel happy. The signs
of escapism can be found in
each of us, which are often
expressed in the denegation
of the existing reality, the in-
dulgent by implementation of
desires that are not possible
and living in the world of il-
lusions. In ever more serious
world consumers are seeking
occasions that allow them to
behave like children. The per-
ception of what is real (and
what is not) has blurred now .
SOCIAL TRENDS
Multiplicity Vs simplicity
If in the past people used the
concept of minimalism to get
freedom as the one of the form
of escapism, now they don’t
want to do it any more. Com-
paring with the past, now peo-
ple prefer multiplicity instead of
simplicity, on which is based the
concept of minimalism. People
are tired of artificial simplifying
the surrounding them reality
and they don’t want to make
their life simpler if it is not, but
they want to create their own
“wonderland”. This social trend
is very noticeable not only in
the everyday life, but also in
the relations between con-
sumers and brands. They are
waiting for the totally new ex-
periences from the brands and
they don’t want just to be the
viewer with passive on-looking
behavior but they are search-
ing for the active participation.
Visual culture
Along with we are in the middle
of the rise of a new visual cul-
ture, created by a young ‘visu-
al’ generation. This generation
grew up surrounded by a total
abundance of images. Psy-
chological research shows the
result: this generation thinks
visually and learns in images.
This trend is also deeply con-
nected with the raise of artistic
and creative dissimilarities ap-
preciation instead of sarcasm.
43. I DREAM - I ESCAPE
We are living in the world of rules and boundar-
ies, which impose us, how we have behave and
define, who we are. We are trying to get away
from it by the artificial simplifying the surround-
ing us reality and at the same time unwittingly
start to create these limits. There is only one way
to stop this vicious circle and to become the per-
son, who judges the life only by himself - is to go
deeper into your inner world. Your dreams be-
come the way to be emotionally independent.
According to the social consideration of the
minimalist movement as the way to freedom
and the anticipated social trends such as de-
sire to escape, conversion from simplicity to
multiplicity, the prevalence of visual culture and
appreciation of artistic and creative dissimilar-
ities, the possible evolution of the brand from
minimalism to something more artistic and
expressive – emotionalism, where our emo-
tions play the most important role in our life.
Emotionalism is the new way to be yourself.
The rebranding won’t change the brand essence
and perception totally, but it will be the com-
pletely different approach to the understanding
of sustainability, which is the core of the brand.
The main difference that now the beliefs in sus-
tainability are imposed by brand – it is like the
creation of rules in the life, which people want to
minimize. But using the new concept the client
will have an opportunity to understand the im-
portance of being sustainable by himself. It won’t
be anymore the rule – it will be the way to escape.
The embodiment of the new idea will be consist-
ed of several steps, including new brand strategy,
communication, possible changing of the brand
name inthefutureandvisualrepresentationofthe
brand visual identity and style of the collections).
The new possible name of the brand is STELLA.
As it was mentioned before the Stella McCart-
ney’s success is often perceived, as not for her
own deserts but because her father is the well-
known great singer. To change that prejudice, the
name of the brand will be changed from Stella
McCartney to Stella. Moreover the changing of
the name to Stella has a deep link with the sug-
gested concept. Stella in Latin means star. It sym-
bolizes the unknown and unconscious, which are
the one of the main characteristics of the dream.
Changing of visual representation of collections
and advertising campaigns using some elements
ofthemodernsurrealismintheattempttochange
perceptions of the world by expressing imagina-
tive dreams free from conscious rational control.
46. ARCHETYPE
The concept of an archetype is found in ar-
eas relating to humans behavior, modern psy-
chological theory, and literary analysis. Us-
ing archetypes to describe people help us to
understand the person’s distinctive features.
As well as each person has it’s own archetype
each brand has it’s own characteristics. Applying
the particular archetypes in defining of the brand
can make easier for customers to quickly under-
stand what is the brand about and create desired
feelings between client and company. Usually as
archetypes are used the heroes from Greek or Ro-
man mythology, as well as terms derived by Jung.
In accordance with to the current representation
of the brand and using the ancient Greek my-
thology, now Stella McCartney’s brand is closer
to the Athena archetype. Athena - represents
the feminine archetype for logical thinking - as
a strong woman, not as a man. Her energy can
be deeply transformed or sublimated in highly
creative ways. By nature the goddesses is more
self-directed, self-motivated, focused rather than
diffuse in their thinking. She is goal oriented. This
inference was made by analyzing the current tar-
get audience client, which can be described as
strong woman with independent extrovert tem-
perament, concerned with career, motivated by
the desire for achievement, acquiring knowl-
edge, androgynous, relates to men as intellectu-
al companion with whom she shares ambitions,
more practical and pragmatic, than emotional.
To convey the new concept to the consumer
through the different kinds of communication
and putting the possible brand strategy into
practice the archetype has to be changed to the
Persephone archetype. According to the Greek
mythology Persephone is a goddess with two
distinct phases to her development and per-
sonality, who personality is split between two..
This feminine archetype is innocent, naive
and impressionable maiden, and at the same
time the wiser, initiated, acquainted with
‘darkness and death’ Queen of the Under-
world. The Underworld symbolizes the uncon-
scious, the spirit world, and dreams. This ar-
chetype best of all describes the future brand
position, as it represents the duality the life.
The are two parallel worlds – one is our life,
which is full of rules and boundaries and the
other one is the reality where you can es-
cape through the process dreaming and
find a new way of existence in this world.
47. The usage of different metaphors to describe
the brand helps to understand the deep
meaning, which is not visible. For a descrip-
tion of the brand may be used one or more
metaphors depending on the brand and they
are connected with the brand’s archetype.
The present Stella McCartney metaphor is
the equilibrium, because the brand identity
is based on the ideas of sustainable fashion,
such as non-using of fur and leather and re-
ducing the consumption of natural resources.
Considering that using the new strategy it is
necessarily to change the focus from the sus-
tainability of the brand to the more tangible
emotion such as escape through the dream-
ing there is a need to find the new metaphor,
which can become the representer of the brand.
The metaphor for the future of the brand is trip
– the unique experience by exploring the fan-
tastic and unstudied kingdom of dreams and
finding the way to escape through it. The trip
in this case is equal to the dream. Dream as is
not something constant, but as a process. The
symbol, which can be used with this metaphor,
is the mirror, as it represents not only the physi-
cal, but also the spiritual reflection of the human
mental world. The mirror can be the tool, which
you use during exploring the dreams. Besides
that, the mirror symbolizes the spiritual and un-
conscious, in the ancient art the mirror is often
associated with the world of women, as it was an
attribute of the Roman goddess Venus (Greek
Aphrodite). In consideration of that we want to
emphasize that now Stella McCartney’s client
becomes more feminine, than androgynous, us-
ing of this element can help to transmit the idea.
METAPHOR
48.
49.
50. CHARACTER
Besides from different archetypes, each brand
has it’s own character, which is defined by par-
ticular emotional and descriptive characteristics,
which are deeply connected with the archetypes.
There are four characters that can be identi-
fied in fashion, such as utopian, critical, prac-
tical and ludic and relevant to them project,
mission, information and euphoria brands.
According to the brand vision the current Stella
McCartney’s brand character can be described
as critical and utopian, because its identity is
based on the Stella McCartney’s beliefs in the
sustainability and on the other hand it is mis-
sion and project brand together. Now there is
the contradiction, because it can’t be collec-
tive and sustainable at the same time. Stella
McCartney positioned the brand as sustain-
able and eco-fashion, but in the reality the
brand has no existing client or just a few, who
understands the importance of be responsible
in terms of the animal’s protection by non us-
ing fur, leather, and other materials and reduc-
ing the consumption of natural resources. Most
of the customers do not care about it, and it
means that the basis, which is used in building
of the brand identity can’t be used in the future.
Considering the new potential brand strategy
and avoidance of contradiction in brand char-
acter, the future Stella McCartney brand has to
be project brand that means utopian and ludic
together. Usually project brands are based on
the great designers, but in this particular case it
will be more about strong emotional moments,
such as dreams, which will be lay in the core of
the brand. The utopian part is represented in
the idea of escaping trough the dreams with a
view to get the emotional independence. This
aspect within the brand, new concept based on
the dreams and surrealistic reality is the possi-
bility to everyone to realize personal aims and
find a new way of living through the dreaming.
54. GENOTYPES
The genotype is the word, which usually uses
in biology to define the unique genetic con-
stitution of an organism. Humans genotype
is the complete heritable genetic identity and
it influences on the formation of the character,
appearance and distinctive features that dis-
tinguish one person from another. If we apply
such term as the genotype to the fashion area,
in this case the genotype will show the brand
substance and partly represents its legacy.
We can define 6 types of genotypes in the
fashion area, such as the progenitor that
shows the nature of the brand, the represen-
tative or the product or the element, which is
strongly associated with the brand, the com-
munication equity as the message, which be-
comes a legend, the myth which is behind the
brand, the essence and the identifiers which
are the recognizable elements of the design.
The Stella McCartney’s progenitor is the sharp
tailoring jacket. From the creation of this icon-
ic item started her career as a designer. During
the period of studying in Saint Martins College
Stella had been working for a shop on Savile
Row as a tailor. Since her first day she started
tailored man’s suit, after she took this experi-
ence and actively used it in Chloe, where she
worked as creative director, and later for her
own brand. The iconic jacket is the best de-
scription of brand’s current DNA – the androg-
ynity and controlled emotions. To show the
evolution of the brand from the current posi-
tion to new the jacket should be redesigned
according to the suggested brand strategy by
using the elements of surrealistic representa-
tion and technology of imaginative design.
The representative is “Falabella Bag“, which is
the most recognizable item for the brand. The
bestseller of Stella McCartney, “Falabella “ trans-
former bag combines both – the idea of eco-fash-
ion, as it is designed from eco-skin, and the idea
of desired target audience, such as strong, ac-
tive and independent woman, who can use this
bag during the working day and than transform
it immediately in the nice evening handbag.
Communication equity is based on using of
images and messages linked with the idea of
sustainability in all types of communication ac-
tions - advertising campaigns, catwalks, pre-
sentations and so on. The main goal of the re-
branding to move the accent from sustainability
to the idea of escaping through the dreams but
55. at the same time to continue using graphic ele-
ments indicating that STELLA is the eco brand,
but in very subtle kind of way. Also there is a
necessity to work on creating the recogniz-
able style of the campaigns that can convey
a consumer the desired mood and stay in the
memory, creating associations. Suggestion for
future campaigns is firstly to identify the con-
cept of the brand and then keep it in mind in
process and edition. It can help to reach a goal
of creating the strong visual image of a brand.
The other one distinctive feature is usage
only the name “Stella “ without surname
to emphasize Stella McCartney’s indepen-
dence as a person from her father’s surname.
Considering the possible change of the brand
name from Stella McCartney to Stella we are go-
ing to emphasize it through the communication.
There are two brand identifiers, which we
can to define – zips and stars. Zip is the main
distinctive feature for the Falabella icon-
ic bag, and within the last 3 collections since
2012 it is also actively used in ready-to-wear
collection as an additional element to skin-
ny jeans, jackets, sweaters, blouses, etc.
Also in the last two collections the new iden-
tifier for the brand appeared – the image of
the star. It is widely used now for bags, shoes
and some apparel items. This identifier has
the perfect connotation with the brand name,
as Stella means star in Latin. Considering that
we are going to change the brand name from
Stella McCartney to Stella we can keep us-
ing this symbol as the identifier for the brand,
which can become more recognizable sym-
bol in the future and also through association
with dreams and surrealistic representation.
The brand essence is sustainability. Using the
new brand strategy the essence of the brand
won’t be changed, but it will be presented in
new and gentler way through the suggested
concept. The sustainability ceases to be some-
thing mandatory and imposed but it becomes
on of the way of escaping through the dreams.
67. COMMUNICATION
Collaboration between Stella McCartney
and a well-known contemporary ballet mas-
ter. Stella McCartney will create the cos-
tumes for the new contemporary ballet show.
Ballet Master: Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keers-
maeker is one of the most prominent choreog-
raphers in contemporary dance. From the be-
ginning De Keersmaeker’s choreographic works
have focused on the relation between music and
dance. She aims to express the basic composi-
tional principles of the music through the body,
rather than just following the score. Her chore-
ographies present an ever-evolving marriage be-
tween a refined sense of compositional architec-
ture and a strong sensuality or theatricality. Her
work is characterized by two essential motifs:
repetition and minimalism. “Less is more”, she
famously said in an interview. De Keersmaeker
for the first time allowed improvisation by her
dancers during the performance. She also found
her own all-women dance company Rosas.
Location: Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London
Sadler’s Wells is a world leader in contem-
porary dance presenting a program of
dance of every kind and bringing the best
of international and British dance to au-
diences at their three theaters in London.
The contemporary ballet is strongly connect-
ed with the idea of emotionalism, because its
concept is based on the destruction of clas-
sical ballet technique in order to get true and
uncontrolled emotions. The classical ballet is
the good example of rules and boundaries,
which are imposed and are mandatory to fal-
low. While the contemporary ballet destroys
this by creating new lines and forms, but at the
same time it has the deep roots into its progen-
itor and it usually takes the inspiration from it.
The contemporary ballet is not about the total
disruption of the heritage that is given by the
classical school but it is about reconsideration
of it and giving the new emotional meaning.
68. MERCHANDISING
The main problem of the current Stella McCa-
rtney’s collections is the absence of unification
and certain common mood, which can charac-
terize the main theme of the collection. Stella
McCartney last collections are consisted of a
big number of slightly different items, which just
differentiate from each other by some addition-
al things, but they are not united by one com-
mon idea. For example, according to the anal-
ysis of fall-winter 2014, the ready-to-wear line
is consisted of thirty one color blouses, which
are different from each other just through addi-
tional details such as buttons, zips, length of the
sleeves and so on. This monotonous multiplic-
ity makes consumer confused, because when
he comes into the Stella McCartney’s store and
wants to buy the black sweater, inside the col-
lection he can find more than 30 different pieces
of the same product and he just doesn’t know
what to choose. Being not the mass-market
brand Stella McCartney as the fashion designer
should help her clients with a choice by show-
ing her personal vision about what is beauty and
what is necessity to wear and how combine dif-
ferent pieces. The strong vision of the collection
will improve the problem of personal consum-
ers frustration during they make their choice.
Another huge problem of merchandising that
the brand uses bestseller of all collection for
each new collection just mixing them in another
way and creating some small numbers of new
items. Most of all it is noticeable in accesso-
ries line. Using of this practice badly influence
of the entire vision of the whole collection.
Considering that now brand Stella McCartney is
notsopopularandthereisnowstrongreasonwhy
peoplebuyherapparelthebestwaytoworkonthe
existing apparel line and make it more desirable.
According to the style and price analysis, which
was made among Stella McCartney main com-
petitors, the quantity of style per one Stella
McCartney’s collection is much more than oth-
er brands. That is why in terms of changing
the merchandising plan it will be suggested to
make future collections narrow (in terms of the
quantity of items) and deep (in terms of color).
69. Under this collaboration will be produced two
items (ballet bag and dress) and they will be
distributed in STELLA mono brand stores in
London, New York, Paris, Milan and Tokyo.
For producing the ballet bag will be used the
design of Falabella iconic bag with some addi-
tional elements which will have the association
with ballet bag. This bag will be made to pro-
mote the new brand strategy. According to the
survey, which was made among 30 representa-
tives of the potential target audience on the sur-
veymonkey.com the current most recognizable
item of Stella McCartney brand is Falabella bag.
Considering this fact and to transmit the new
concept of the brand it will be better to use the
present iconic item and modify it in right way
by adding in the design some modifications
and giving the new occasion qualities. What is
very important the new modified Falabella bal-
let bag should represent that style of apparel
and accessories from minimalistic sport niche is
going to emotional design, something artistic.
The ballet dress will be consisted of two
elements – body and fluid skirt made
light materials, such as silk or chiffon.
The idea of creating this item is the same as
behind the bag – going from minimalistic
sportswear to artistic and emotional apparel.
Ifthenewballetdresshasacommercialsuccess,it
will be produced further in ready-to-wear collec-
tionasanewiconicitemfortheapparelcollection.
73. SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
Maintaining of new communication strategy
Change of the brand name from Stella
Increase of brand image strength
Launching new iconic products
Increase of customer demand
McCartney to STELLA
Increasing number of competitors in a
growing market
High investments in rebranding
Expensive product price
Large amount of time to establish new
emotional link with consumers
New merchandise system, through decreasing
numbers of items within the collection
Development of the strong brand identity
Change of brand positioning from sport
oriented to artistic
Desirable and unique apparel collection
New communication strategy
Strong e-commerce platform
Globally distributed
Changing of fashion trends
Economic downturn
Tax increasing
Decresing of luxury and premium goods
demand
86. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books, articles and resources:
Stella McCartney Rebecca Aldridge
Fashion Designers A-Z. Stella McCartney Edition Valerie Steele, et al., Suzy Menkes
British fashion designers / Hywel Davies
100 contemporary fashion designers edited by Terry Jones
M to M o M/M (Paris) / Emily King
Less is more: minimalism in fashion / Harriet Walker
Minimalism and fashion (Reduction in the Postmodern Era) Elyssa Dimant
http://www.stellamccartney.com
http://www.vogue.it/suzy-menkes/suzy-menkes/2014/09/stella-mccartney-s-confident-femininity#ad-image
http://goddess-power.com/athena.htm
http://persephoneandhecate.blogspot.it/2011/06/exploring-archetypes-persephone.html
http://www.sitepoint.com/what-is-minimalism/
http://the-rosenrot.com/2013/08/defining-minimalism-in-fashion.html
http://fashionbi.com/brands/stella-mccartney/index
http://www.kering.com/
http://www.style.com/
http://www.dazeddigital.com/
http://www.vogue.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Moss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwyneth_Paltrow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liv_Tyler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_%28entertainer%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Teresa_De_Keersmaeker
http://www.rosas.be/en/anne-teresa-de-keersmaeker
http://sarma.be/docs/1205
https://baronesso.wordpress.com/category/fashion/page/2/
87. Interviews:
Creative content summit Stella McCartney interviewed by Sarah Mower
Stella McCartney in conversation with Alexandra Shulman
Garance Dore “Pardon my French”
Stella McCartney Vogue Voices
Stella McCartney interview with Suzi Menkes
The guardian The many faces of Stella McCartney. Jess Cartner-Morley
Harpersbazaar Women who dare: Stella Mccartney. Chelsea Clinton
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/mar/06/-sp-stella-mccartney-interview
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/chelsea-clinton-interviews-stella-mccartney-1114
http://www.style.com/trends/industry/2014/stella-mccartney-mytheresa-video?%2F%3Fmbid%3D=fb
