The trailblazing designer Stella McCartney is well known for her eco and animal-friendly credentials, and she’s pushed it even further for her latest SS24 fashion campaign. Fronted by Cara Delevingne, the new campaign features the brand’s most sustainable collection to date and was shot in a rather unusual location – at a Veolia recycling plant in South London. Highlighting the fact that beauty can be found in waste, it offers up a beacon of hope in contrast to the devastating impacts of fast fashion.
Stella McCartney’s choice of Cara Delevingne as the face of the new campaign is a genius move. After months out of the spotlight, the British actor and supermodel is well and truly back, having just made her West End debut as Sally Bowles in the hugely popular Cabaret revival at the Playhouse Theatre. Now she’s re-entered the fashion world with a bang too, with McCartney revealing she chose Delevingne for her strong eco-activist credentials. Delevingne is a trustee of EcoResolution as well as the founder of Initiative Earth, a charity that supports everything from ecosystem restoration to education resources.
The SS24 collection has been crafted from 95% conscious materials, making it the most sustainable collection Stella McCartney has ever released. It was created in response to the shocking statistics that have resulted from the rise of fast fashion. Each year, 92 million tonnes of clothing waste is created, with a truck-full going to landfill or incinerators every second. While more than 90% of the clothing waste in landfills can be reused or recycled, less than 1% of those materials are repurposed back into garments. Instead, the textiles industry consumes 98 million tonnes of non-renewable resources every year making new pieces.
As a result, the brand is constantly looking for new ways to reduce waste, and has used exclusively recycled cashmere since 2016, as well as Econyl® regenerated and recyclable nylon since 2017. That shift alone has helped to prevent over 10 tonnes of materials from ending up in landfill. Now Stella McCartney is exploring a range of textile clothing and take-back schemes that would be run through their retail flagship stores and recently launched a parka using BioPure™️ technology, which pairs enzyme-based biological recycling with AI to create a recycled, recyclable polyester.
The Stella McCartney SS24 collection has been designed to blur the lines between genders and generations, reinterpreting timeless pieces from McCartney’s archive as well as those she borrowed from her parents, and her daughters now borrow from her. The collection feels eclectic and ageless, with an emphasis on texture and proportion. You’ll find sharp Savile Row tailoring alongside organic cotton denim and day-to-night dresses, as well as new editions of the iconic Falabella tote – the original vegan It bag – which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.
Delevingne is joined in the campaign by fellow high profile eco-activists Arizona Muse, the model and founder of the Dirt charity, and documentary photographer and filmmaker Alice Aedy, who co-founded Earthrise Studio. The captivating shots were taken on location by Harley Weir at a recycling plant, in a bid to highlight the limitless potential of the circular economy. Surrounded by discarded aluminium cans and posing amidst mountains of rubbish, the images send a powerful message in the face of the current climate crisis and inspire us all to shop less and buy better.
Stella McCartney SS24 collection is available now; stellamccartney.com
