Stella McCartney celebrated 25 years in fashion at Paris Fashion Week with a show featuring dancing horses and a jumper made using yeast, and revealed she is to receive France's highest honour, the Légion d'honneur.
The horses marked the Chinese year of the horse, while the closing look was a vest reading 'My dad's a rock star', worn in front of her father Paul McCartney and Oprah Winfrey. The collection was a whistle-stop tour of her life: fisherman's knits echoing her childhood in Mull of Kintyre, low-rise recycled denim from her west London teens, and jewel-coloured stirrup leggings from her time as an intern at Christian Lacroix.
McCartney stressed that she is one of the few women designing for women and that her label has never used leather, fur or feathers, though she has not turned a profit since 2017 and there are concerns it could run out of money by 2028.
In another industry milestone, Pieter Mulier took his final bow at Alaïa on Wednesday, shortly before moving to Versace to replace Donatella. Mulier, who had never run a fashion house before joining Alaïa in 2021, said 'not yet' when asked if he was ready. His final collection featured stretch knit dresses and haute hooded dresses inspired by Azzedine Alaïa, the 'king of cling', and as worn by Grace Jones.
Alaïa's cultural touchstones include Alicia Silverstone's character in Clueless, as well as Michelle Obama and Rihanna, who announced her pregnancy in a red Alaïa jumpsuit at the 2023 Super Bowl. Versace, now owned by the Prada group, is betting on Mulier's sculptural, anti-trend approach, a stark contrast to his predecessor Dario Vitale, who lasted eight months.
