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Stella McCartney may be today's It designer, but breaking into the industry in the Nineties was no easy feat.
The British designer has opened up to French fashion blogger Garance Doré, admitting in the Pardon My French web series that she never felt like she fit in.
'I aspired to this kind of glamorous world...The moments I had contact with it, it didn't feel like it welcomed me,' she said.
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Girl talk: French blogger Garance Doré and Stella McCartney chat about the challenges the British designer faced when breaking into the fashion world
When Ms McCartney first encountered the luxury fashion scene, it made her question whether she belonged and stirred up numerous insecurities.
'You're not good enough to really be part of this brand. Maybe you're not thin enough and maybe you're not cool enough. I just have never believed in that elitism. It's always felt wrong to me,' she said.
And this feeling is something that has stuck with her though the years, despite her success, though Ms McCartney makes a concerted effort to be empathetic to her female clientele.
The celebrity-adored designer takes an 'honest' and 'effortless' approach to her line and her life. 'I want the brand to help people, not make them feel more crap about themselves.'
Opening up: Ms McCartney, who is a mother-of-four, admitted that she never felt thin enough or cool enough to fit into the elitist industry of the mid-Nineties
On balancing family and fashion week, the mother-of-four says she doesn't recall missing one due to being pregnant or having a baby, but jokes that the first person to meet her newborn is probably the DJ.
When it comes to the new collection, Ms McCartney says 'it's quite bold. There's a lot of print. A lot of jacquard. A lot of developmental materials... Great colors: really lovely rich reds and bordeaux... Lots of black and whites - quite graphic. Greys, tweeds, nice oversized coats.'
She even tells Ms Doré, a self-professed Stella McCartney fanatic, 'you're gonna wanna get rid of that one [the coat she's wearing] and get the new one [seen below, right].'
Great stripes: Chunky loafers, graphic black-and-white stripes and oversize camel coats stole the show
Latest and greatest: The designer, who recently won Designer of the Year honors from the British Fashion Awards, also debuted her brand new optical line, which her celebrity guests relentlessly pawed over
Art theory: Models played scrabble and had their portraits painted by a trio of artists, while Alec Baldwin, Kim Cattrall and Mary-Louise Parker turned up to view the chunky perspex jewellery, snakeskin clutches
The recent OBE honoree also reveals that the inspiration behind her latest collection was a bit uptown New Yorker - of which the designer is half (her late mother, Linda, was from that area of Manhattan) - mixed with 'that London girl I can never get rid of.' But ultimately, she says she's inspired by women in general.
While her brand remains leather- and fur-free, which she acknowledges is a challenge, it's something Ms McCartney is adamant about.
'I don't do it for other people. I do it because it's what I believe in... I can only do what I feel is right, and practice what I preach. So I do that in my business.'
VIDEO: Garance Doré's interview with Stella McCartney
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