Stella McCartney On Why Every Day Is Earth Day

Stella McCartney was convinced of the need to treat every day as Earth Day long before her Central Saint Martins graduate fashion collection made headlines thanks to the calibre of the models – including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Yasmin Le Bon – wearing her conscious clothes. “Challenging and questioning things has been drilled into me since I was a kid,” McCartney tells British Vogue. “Over the years I have sat back, quietly working on my sustainability projects in the background. But now, more than ever, there is an urgency for change. If we have to scream and shout to achieve it, then we need to do that to drive action.”

And so, despite the fact McCartney firmly believes the topic of sustainability “is a conversation that shouldn’t be saved for one day or week a year”, the designer has rallied her friends to help her orchestrate a mindful version of shouting from the rooftops to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Amber Valletta, Jony Ive and Charlotte Rampling are among the “global celebrity change agents” who can be seen reading lines from Jonathan Safran Foer’s We Are the Weather on McCartney’s social platforms. Dr Jane Goodall previously read the author’s musings around saving the planet with our dietary choices for Stella McCartney’s autumn/winter 2019 campaign, and the brand recently launched a We Are the Weather capsule collection using samples of Foer’s handwriting, in order to ask consumers, “What would you do to save the planet?”

“The world is crying out for change,” says McCartney. “The younger generation is telling us that our house is on fire and that we need to respond like we are in a crisis – because we are, in fact, in a crisis. Initiatives like Earth Day provide the opportunity for everyone to pause and really think about the devastation that is happening around us and what they can do to make a difference.” This year in particular, McCartney believes that we have been given a second chance to address our collective impact, to learn from the coronavirus pandemic and to make better choices going forward.

To highlight how nature carries on when humanity pauses, McCartney is screening ocean videos on the advertising screens at Piccadilly Circus from 21 to 26 April. Of course, few will witness it (the UK has already seen 70 per cent less road traffic than normal), but that’s sort of the point. “I hope that being forced to stop will allow us to be kinder and more mindful, so that nature can reclaim its rightful place at the centre of our lives,” explains McCartney.

Helping to revive our planet doesn’t require drastic changes, she says. Not eating meat for one day a week (McCartney and her father, Paul, have long been campaigning for Meat Free Mondays) has a bigger impact than not using transport for an entire week. And, when it comes to what we’re wearing, it’s simply about asking more questions. “The more educated, aware and conscious we all are of what goes into our garments, the quicker we will see changes being made,” says McCartney.

For her part, McCartney is working to make her collections more sustainable each season. The autumn/winter 2020 edit includes Koba: the first biodegradable fake fur made of plant pulp and recycled polyester, which uses around 30 per cent less energy and 63 per cent less carbon emissions than other fake furs on the market. And Coreva: the world’s first biodegradable stretch denim, created by wrapping organic cotton around a natural rubber core, and dyeing it using a biodegradable ingredient derived from mushrooms and seaweed. Remember: this was the collection that saw McCartney swap supermodels for super furry animals on the runway to hammer home the need for humans and animals to coexist with one another. “Without animals, we’re nothing,” says the designer. “Bringing humour to hard-hitting messages makes them more palatable for everyone.” McCartney’s message on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day is not only palatable, “it’s a gentle, loving reminder,” she says. “Every day is Earth Day.”