Sponsored feature: autumn style icons – Stella McCartney

 

On a graph mapping glamour and practicality, Stella McCartney's personal style would be located at the point where those two intersect. There is nothing froufrou or flamboyant about McCartney's clothes – no fairytale dresses, or sweetie‑shop colours – but even the simplest outfit is lifted out of the ordinary by attention to detail.

If she wears jeans and a blouse – a staple Stella look – she's not afraid to turn up the volume with a killer shoe. If it's a simple crewneck sweater and trousers, the sweater will be the plushest, most immaculate knit. And by the same subtle calibrations, she keeps her dressed-up look from getting too fancy with understated makeup and accessories.
At 40 and with four children, McCartney has honed her style into a sleek formula. The more outré looks she favoured in her 20s – the giant capes, the supertight leggings – have gradually been edited out. There is nothing age inappropriate about the latterday McCartney wardrobe. But what makes her compelling is that she has cut off the excess frills without ending up austere or sexless. McCartney seldom shows a lot of bare flesh – but equally important is that she always shows a little bit by rolling up trousers to show an inch of ankle, or chopping the sleeves of a tunic top at the elbow.
By keeping some elements of her style constant – lots of trousers, monochrome with bold accents – she reminds us that there is a real person under the clothes. One who thinks about fashion, but not at the expense of thinking about anything else.

Jess Cartner-Morley

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk