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.
Interpretation
This quote challenges the notion of luxury tied to materials, specifically leather, arguing it is mass-produced and exploitative rather than exclusive.
Stella McCartney's quote critiques the conventional perspective on luxury materials like leather, asserting that the mass production and exploitation inherent in the fashion industry strip away any true luxury status. She highlights the ethical implications of using leather, drawing attention to the millions of animals sacrificed each year for fashion, and suggests that true luxury should align with values of sustainability and compassion rather than mere opulence.
In practice
This quote can be used in a fashion industry seminar to spark discussions on ethical sourcing.
I never want to promote an ad that makes women feel bad about themselves, because when I was young, I never felt rich enough or fashionable enough or good enough. I felt talked down to by luxury fashion labels. There was a disconnect. They made me feel we weren't right for each other.
It's not about what it looks like in the studio or on the runway. It's what it looks like on a real person that matters.
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.
O suffering, sad humanity! O ye afflicted ones, who lie Steeped to the lips in misery, Longing, yet afraid to die, Patient, though sorely tried!
In a man devoted to knowledge, pity seems almost ridiculous, like delicate hands on a cyclops.
Now even if I die, no one will be so grieved as to do himself bodily harm.
Tyranny is for the worst of treasons.
Science cannot destroy the consciousness of freedom, without which there is no morality and no art, but it can refute it.
The patient decides when it's best to go.
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