Clinton: I wanted to talk to you about family and creativity. Do you feel like you're the designer that you are because you inherited something? Or is it because you grew up in a certain environment with creative parents?
Stella McCartney: It's an interesting question, and one I thought about a lot when I was growing up. I think that one can't help but be steered and navigated in ways; it's just kind of what you know. I also think that part of it is DNA. For instance, I don't do music, but I see a talent for it in my siblings and even in my own children, and my father's father was in a band. But you do acquire a lot from your surroundings as a child—and you are a very good example of that. Most people stick to what they know from their upbringing in their career, and I really admire people who go in a completely different direction.

CC: I tried to do that. I worked in the private sector for years and tried very hard to care about things that were different from what my parents cared about. But as you said, I just couldn't because of the environment in which I grew up and the examples that my parents set for me.
SM: I often question why didn't I rebel more. Why didn't I try to do stuff that was really shocking? But if you have respect for your parents, then it is quite hard. I think that my slight rebellion was going into fashion and not music or photography or something directly related to what my parents did.
CC: Mine was to declare that I was a vegetarian. It's kind of sad to say that that was my major act of rebellion.
SM: It is actually quite rebellious because the traditions of eating meat are huge and there is such pressure on all levels to do so. But your dad now has taken it a step further by turning vegan, so I guess he is the real rebel.
CC: Do you remember when you first became aware of fashion?
SM: I was brought up in a way that was based purely on the senses. Everything in my upbringing was a reaction to growing up on an organic farm or to the emotions of animal cruelty, as well as the visuals of my mum's and my father's art—he was also an art collector. I would watch films. And then there was obviously music in the house 24-7. These sensory experiences had such an impact on me. My eyes were open. I would also go into my parents' wardrobe. I was so aware of the stage clothes versus the everyday-life clothes, and the extremeness of the stage clothes that my parents had designed. Even coming across my dad's old Beatles suits from Savile Row and the history attached to them—the masculinity and simplicity compared to the '70s glitz and glamour of Wings. I was so visually excited by it all. So the more I think about it, the younger I think I first became aware of my interest in fashion.
CC: Do you remember having conversations with your parents about fashion in the same way I remember having conversations with mine about health care around the breakfast table?
SM: My parents were pretty uninterested in fashion; it just was part of what they did. I think that's why I was so visually inspired by them—because their fashion sense was not strategic or overthought. It came naturally, the whole mix between old and new and glamorous and timeless. My mum was notorious for not wearing makeup. We never really talked about fashion in particular—we talked about health care too.
CC: Do you feel like that enabled you to develop your own creative sensibility? In some ways, maybe it wasan advantage.
SM: I think the fact that my parents weren't conventional—especially considering their position—had a big influence on the way that I conduct myself now in design and business. It had a huge impact on my wanting to do something a bit more than just designing a pretty dress and putting it on a runway and making it glamorous.
CC: I really admire how both your clothes and your company reflect your ethics, whether it's choosing not to use animal products or the commitment that you've made to responsible manufacturing.
SM: It's that idea of not just thinking in a conventional way and approaching life with different eyes. I don't mind if I'm ridiculous. I'm probably still ridiculous in my industry for not using leather and fur. But I guess I inherited this incredible thing of not being afraid tobe challenged.
CC: Something I have become more aware of as I've gotten older is the gift my parents gave me of believing that nothing is impossible and that any challenges can be overcome.
SM: When you have kids yourself, you start to see it from so many angles. It's the biggest pressure of all: How do you inspire for the betterment of the next generation? It's important to let them know that they can do and achieve anything. The interesting thing is that your background can also be a burden. You can question yourself a lot as you grow up, until you start to become aware of your own achievements. It's the moment when you think, 'Now I have to take responsibility' that you really come into your own. What was your relationship with fashion like when you were younger? How has that changed for you?
CC: Well, I think about fashion now in a cooperative way. It wasn't always like that, because when I was little I'd watch my mother—who was this very successful lawyer and children's rights advocate—be perceived predominantly through her appearance. When my father ran for president, there were criticisms about her wearing suits that were two seasons old.
SM: Because she was a woman?
CC: Because she was a woman, but also because those surface-level criticisms were more common than thoughtful critiques of her ideas in regard to public education, for example. Being aware of that growing up, I did what I thought I could to avoid it. So when I went to high school, I was always dressed in these monochromatic navy blue looks because I was trying to avoid any form of criticism. I was also criticized when I was 12 or 13 and I wore cotton dresses from the local department store. But that kind of thing wasn't so important to my family—we were much more into other forms of creativity. When my mother ran for president, she only wore dark pantsuits with different blouses, which was a more sophisticated version of the strategy I'd had in high school. But as I got older I realized that I was still conceiving something. I never had that effortless aesthetic gene that your parents had, but I have always been attracted to different colors and fabrics, so I had to go through this transition later in my life of becoming comfortable with not being too strict about what I would wear and how I would wear it—because I wanted to. Sometimes I would be criticized, but that was a more honest way to behave than just always embracing the monochromatic shield.
SM: It's interesting, the fear that fashion can push into people. It's not supposed to make you feel bad and paranoid. It's supposed to encourage you to feel great and reflect who you are.
CC: One of the things that we've talked about before is how the greater fashion industry has been slow to adopt the use of more nonanimal products and alternatives to leather. Do you feel like that has changed at all?
SM: It's hard to say. I don't think it has changed massively. I think the next generation of designers is more aware of those kinds of issues, and that they want to approach design and manufacturing in a different way. Pretending that the fashion industry isn't in part based on leather would be quite stupid of me, but at the same time there is another way of doing things—even outside of leather. I don't use PVC either, for example, because it is harmful. I do think that some of the largest houses are starting to put into work a clean approach to business. But it could be cleaned up quicker. In a way, it's like politics: people are the answer to all of it. If consumers challenge the industry to change, then the fashion houses will have to answer that.
CC: I'd think technology would help.
SM: Technology is for sure the most exciting element. I see that in my collaboration with Adidas. The fact that I don't use PVC came from that, because in the sports world they have to answer to a bigger demographic and people are really quite interested in the environment and having a more sustainable world. I do think technology is improving in the luxury sector, but it's such a huge investment, and it takes so long—it's never as immediate as you hope. Technology is definitely the answer for the future, though; it's a question of how fast we can get there, really.
CC: We have a saying in my family, "Patience is a virtue, but impatience gets things done." What you're describing sounds like a balance between patience and impatience.
SM: We are a pretty small, young company in luxury fashion, and agility has been key to getting us to where we are now—and our desire to not take no for an answer. The thing that really excites me is just being responsible and pushing in every corner of the business. There are so many ways that you can improve. It's impossible to be perfect, but for me, it's about getting closer and closer as we travel forward.
CC: You were talking about supporting your children and encouraging them to find their own directions. How do you think about that on a creative level? Ensuring that your kids don't feel the pressure of being as creative as their mother—or their grandparents—but that they can be if they want to be.
SM: I really struggle with that one because I have been bringing up my kids in a city, and I really did think that by the time I was ready to have children I would have probably gone back to the country to live on a farm and mimic the upbringing that I had. But my business in based in London, and my husband's work is there also, and the idea of running off to the country and shielding them from the realities of life and the speed of what happens in the city isn't realistic. I am certainly not bringing up my kids in the same way that I was brought up—and I do sometimes worry about that. But I have to encourage them to be who they are. That is all I want to do—to see how I can shelter them when I can, and if I can't, to make sure that they know they have my unconditional love.
See all of the 2014 Women Who Dare here.
Marilyn Minter