Top 50 Stella McCartney Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Everyone can do simple things to make a difference, and every little bit really does count.”

— Stella McCartney

2. “Being effortless is the coolest thing in the world.”

— Stella McCartney

3. “The beliefs I was raised with – to respect animals and to be aware of nature, to understand that we share this planet with other creatures – have had a huge impact on me.”

— Stella McCartney

4. “A little black dress is something to rely on. To fill you with confidence and ease. To have an attitude that is pure and effortless, yet sexy and classy.”

— Stella McCartney

5. “Laugh my friend, for laughter ignites a fire within the pit of your belly and awakens your being.”

— Stella McCartney

6. “There’s nothing fashionable about a dead animal that has been cruelly killed just because some people think it looks cool to wear.”

— Stella McCartney

7. “I personally love sportswear, and love using it in high fashion.”

— Stella McCartney

8. “Depending on the season, between 20 and 30 percent of my collections contain some sort of eco or sustainable element, whether it’s a beautiful organic fabric or a natural dye. And obviously I don’t use animal skins or fur of any kind.”

— Stella McCartney

9. “When you think of fashion photography, it’s a dream. It’s like we all want to be those women. We want to wear those dresses.”

— Stella McCartney

10. “It’s incredibly important that if you have the dream of having your own house, you don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Ultimately, it’s unsustainable and people will see through. You have to work; you can’t expect your dreams to be handed to you on a plate.”

— Stella McCartney

11. “I confess to being a frustrated musician.”

— Stella McCartney

12. “As a designer, I like to work with fabrics that don’t bleed; that’s why I avoid all animal skins.”

— Stella McCartney

13. “Now, get out there and kick ass!”

— Stella McCartney

14. “The consumption of animals – whether you’re wearing them or eating them – is extraordinarily damaging to the planet. There are over a billion animals killed a year for food, half of which don’t even get eaten. And there’s over 50 million animals killed just for fashion.”

— Stella McCartney

15. “I was brought up to understand that we are all here on planet earth together.”

— Stella McCartney

16. “Sometimes I wish I were less sensible.”

— Stella McCartney

17. “The really great thing about my shoe store is that there’s not one dead animal in it.”

— Stella McCartney

18. “I think the moment that I’m very proud of is building a business without using animals. And, hopefully, changing people’s perception of how you can do luxury fashion.”

— Stella McCartney

19. “We try to make earth-friendly decisions whenever we can, as it’s part of our brand DNA.”

— Stella McCartney

20. “At the end of the day I separate things; my life is my life and my work is my work.”

— Stella McCartney

21. “You feel like everyone hates you if you’ve got a good life, now I feel maybe it’s allowed because I’ve had my share of sadness.”

— Stella McCartney

22. “People think I’m strong, but actually I wanted to crawl away. I thought, I’m going to live in the country with my horse and I’ll get a nine-to-five; I don’t need this.”

— Stella McCartney

23. “I feel like a different person since my mum passed away, like I’m driving a ship with my husband alongside me and we’re leading these four children into unknown waters.”

— Stella McCartney

24. “I am a fashion designer. I’m not an environmentalist. When I get up in the morning, number one I’m a mother and a wife, and number two I design clothes. So the main thing I need to do is create, hopefully, exquisitely beautiful, desirable objects for my customer.”

— Stella McCartney

25. “For me, singing is the most natural thing in the world. I’ve grown up with it and I know I’ve got that gift.”

— Stella McCartney

26. “I’m not offended or embarrassed by the fact that I design clothes for women to wear. So when I meet women who love my clothes, it’s a really good, straightforward thing. It makes me feel like I’m doing my job right.”

— Stella McCartney

27. “I don’t use specific brands really. It’s just that for my skin, I need as high an SPF factor as I can get my hands on. That’s the only rule.”

— Stella McCartney

28. “I loved all those Doris Day visuals of her being a tomboy and then changing into this gorgeous girl in a ballgown.”

— Stella McCartney

29. “Whether you eat meat of not, you can be part of this decision to limit the meat industry destroying our planet’s resources.”

— Stella McCartney

30. “I didn’t want to be thirtysomething and not know what I was going to do. I was quite afraid of that, there were quite a lot of aimless kids around, in that ‘other’ side of my life, who didn’t really know what to do because they always had a bank balance to fall back on and they were quite lost.”

— Stella McCartney

31. “I think deep down I’m spiritual, but there’s nothing I practice.”

— Stella McCartney

32. “For me, women’s ski wear has always been black and, again, not as feminine or sexy as I think it could look while still having the technology there.”

— Stella McCartney

33. “Success financially is a measure of creative success, it is the same in all arts.”

— Stella McCartney

34. “I think it took me a little while to be true to myself as a designer, and in some ways I’m still trying to do that. I have to choose things that come naturally to me. Whenever I challenge something too much or try too hard, it never quite works out.”

— Stella McCartney

35. “It’s immoral that people make money out of writing crap, but I try not to obsess about it. I don’t want to spend my life being angry.”

— Stella McCartney

36. “I literally have meetings at eight o’clock in the morning, and I finish at nine o’clock at night. It sounds pathetic, but I don’t even have time to go shopping.”

— Stella McCartney

37. “I love that you can have the language between the two worlds of technology and fashion, because I don’t think that many designers get to do that.”

— Stella McCartney

38. “We always had our own vegetables growing up and now I’m doing it with my kids at our house in the country.”

— Stella McCartney

39. “My mum taught me to have a soul.”

— Stella McCartney

40. “I don’t plan massively in advance.”

— Stella McCartney

41. “I run a lot. If I don’t have time to go to the gym or don’t have time to work out properly, I will go for a quick run. I think running is a great way to stay fit, and I really concentrate on fitting into a realistic urban lifestyle.”

— Stella McCartney

42. “You want to be confident when you work out because it takes a lot to make you work out. So many women really enjoy it, but it’s a hard thing and you have to make yourself do it most of the time. I think you want to feel that you look good to make you want to work out a little bit more.”

— Stella McCartney

43. “I’d rather people turn up than not. And of course I’d rather have people be enthusiastic.”

— Stella McCartney

44. “I used to get embarrassed about the fact I liked fashion. I still get a bit cringy.”

— Stella McCartney

45. “I can honestly say this industry hasn’t made me neurotic about my looks, except maybe my weight. I hope my clothes kind of reflect that. They’re meant to make you feel good.”

— Stella McCartney

46. “My biggest surprises in my everyday job have to do with the challenges of trying to be slightly more responsible as a brand.”

— Stella McCartney

47. “If people stop liking my clothes, I’ll make a record.”

— Stella McCartney

48. “Most male painters have historically admired the female form. It’s got a lot going for it.”

— Stella McCartney

49. “I think it’s very wrong to have the mass murder, every single day, of millions of animals.”

— Stella McCartney

50. “I ride my bike, I work out, I do a bit of, er, dancey things.”

— Stella McCartney