Alasdhair Willis

Stella McCartney OBE
McCartney at the "End Sexual Violence in Conflict" Summit, June 2014
Born	Stella Nina McCartney (1971-09-13) 13 September 1971 (age 46) Lambeth, London, England
Education	Central St. Martins
Occupation	Fashion designer
Spouse(s)	Alasdhair Willis (m. 2003)
Children	4
Parent(s)	Paul McCartney Linda McCartney
Relatives	Mary McCartney (sister) James McCartney (brother) Heather McCartney (maternal half-sister)

Stella Nina McCartney, OBE (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is the daughter of former Beatles member Paul McCartney and American musician, photographer and animal rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her mother, McCartney is a firm supporter of animal rights and is particularly known for her use of vegetarian and animal-free alternatives in her work.

McCartney was born in Lambeth, London, the second child of Beatle Paul McCartney and American photographer Linda McCartney (1941–1998). She is named after her maternal great-grandmothers (both of Linda McCartney's grandmothers were named Stella). As a young girl, McCartney travelled the globe with her parents and their group Wings, along with her siblings: older half-sister Heather (who was legally adopted by Paul McCartney), older sister Mary, and younger brother James. According to her father, the name of Wings was inspired by Stella's difficult birth. As his daughter was being born by emergency caesarean section, Paul sat outside the operating room and prayed that she be born "on the wings of an angel."

Despite their fame, the McCartneys wanted their children to lead as normal a life as possible, so Stella and her siblings attended local state schools in East Sussex, one of them being Bexhill College. McCartney has said that while attending state school, she was a victim of bullying, as well as being a bully herself.

McCartney became interested in designing clothes as a youth. At age thirteen, she designed her first jacket. Three years later, she interned for Christian Lacroix, working on her first haute couture collection, honing her skills working for Edward Sexton, her father's Savile Row tailor for a number of years.