Quotes from Stella McCartney

I've had people say to me, 'You'll never sell handbags. You don't work with leather, and leather is luxury.' To me, it's the complete opposite: leather is everywhere - it's so cheap a material; it's so mass produced. Over 50 million animals a year are killed just for fashion. For me, it doesn't have a luxury element to it.

When I first started, it was a dirty word to say you made clothes for people to wear... I was a little ashamed of it. You didn't always feel you were this amazing creative force.

It's more expensive for me to make my shoes. I don't use animal-based glues or fish-based glues. So that costs me more. And, you know, like anything in life - mass marketing of anything - mass manufacturing of anything costs less.

When I first started designing sportswear, I felt that women weren't represented in sports performance. I felt that men were dressed really well both technically and visually, and women were almost like an afterthought.

I think deep down I'm spiritual, but there's nothing I practice.

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

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.

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

It wasn't easy navigating publicity when I started, because I grew up with 'being famous,' and I'm just not into it, and I guess defensiveness gets read into that. And I didn't get an easy ride at the beginning.

We've all got to come together, and we've got to protect what's left of our ancient forests on this planet.

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.

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.

I'm obsessed with not chucking away food. I'm lucky enough to have a gardener, so we grow sweetcorn, tomatoes, beetroots, cabbages, pumpkins, lettuce. I'm trying to get into blanching it and freezing so I don't have to buy veg over the winter, but then you need loads of freezers, and that's not ideal.

I wanted the collection for Target to reinterpret all the must-haves of Stella McCartney for winter and to make my designs more accessible to a wider audience in Australia.

I guess my favourite Disney film was 'Snow White,' which has a really dark moment when the evil queen turns into a witch and makes the poison apple. It was terrifying in the same way 'Maleficent' is.

I did always say I wanted to infiltrate from within. That was always my reasoning behind going into partnership with a luxury group that uses a lot of leather in their products.

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.

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.

It's important for us as a family to go and sit in the woods sometimes.

Strength on its own in a woman is quite abrasive and not terribly attractive all the time.

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.

My job at the end of the day is to design timeless, desirable, beautiful products. It's not about just designing a bunch of organic jumpers. I have a balance within the brand. If you try to create something people enjoy, and it happens to be made in a responsible way, then that's when you can really strike an incredible balance.

The majority of fragrances are designed by people who have no idea what the house does. But for me, it had to be honest. That's where it becomes personal.

It's not realistic to live in the country at this stage. I've got a business in London. I beat myself up about it all the time.