Stella McCartney didn’t have "a huge amount of money" as a kid – despite her father being Sir Paul McCartney.
The 47-year-old fashion designer is the daughter of Beatles legend Paul and his late ex-wife Linda McCartney – who died in 1998 – but has said that despite her parents’ fame and fortune, she was never spoiled as a child and even bought second hand clothes from "vintage" shops.
She said: "I’ve grown up in a family that doesn’t chuck stuff away. And it sounds silly, but I didn’t have a huge amount of money as a kid.
"My mum and dad were really clever; I went to a comprehensive [school] and I wasn’t given a load of cash, so I would go to vintage and secondhand shops and markets to buy clothes. I think that’s kind of the future, and I would encourage kids to rent clothes and buy secondhand because you don’t have to always go for that quick fix. It’s way more exciting and cooler."
And it’s not just her parents’ frugal ways that Stella – who is sister to Heather, 56, Mary, 49, James, 41, and Beatrice, 15 – has inherited either, as she’s also picked up their eco-friendly lifestyle, and has long been a vegetarian and supporter of animal rights.
The designer’s collections are famously free from leather, skin, fur and feathers, and has likened her job to the "organic farm" she grew up on.
Speaking to Net-a-Porter’s PorterEdit magazine, she said: "I grew up on an organic farm and now what I do for a living really is farming. And I think that that’s something that people don’t really realise – that in fashion design, we’re actually just farming the land, but instead of making a veggie patty out of it, we’re making a jacket.
"I’ve always secretly liked knowing that a large percentage of people who come and buy our products don’t have any idea that it’s not [real] leather or what’s at the core of our value system. I take pride in that because, for me, that’s how you know you’re doing your job properly."
Stella McCartney didn’t have money as a kid
