The unstoppable Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney rarely talks. She mostly refuses to open up much. Even when it comes to detractors she remains tightly zipped. "That's for me to know and for you to find out" is the phrase of the day and the general mood. In a fashion world driven by the battery packs of powerful publicists, McCartney stands out. Her press appearances are safe and assuredly heavily scripted, with every move undertaken with precise structure and calculation. Although this doesn't exactly win the hearts and souls of the public, it seems that keeping everything at arm's length has been her principal coping mechanism. You see, probably the only thing more difficult than being famous is being the child of somebody famous. The expectations, the constant need to justify oneself; it can't have been an easy task for the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney to navigate the endless stream of criticism. Her father needs no introduction, as the highest-profile surviving member of the biggest-selling band in history, but the daughter tries hard to distance herself from any impression that she has ridden his coattails to success."Everyone is hugely influenced by their parents and their upbringing, no matter what," McCartney says, "and of course my upbringing helped shape my beliefs, some good and some bad, but I also developed my own causes." But this is McCartney sketched from afar - McCartney "the brand" - which is exactly how and where she feels comfortable. Perhaps you just get to a point where you don't want to hurt anymore, which would be understandable given the negative media her family has faced. The armour, the self-preservation - it makes sense when you step back a little. Unpolished yet surprisingly pretty in that wholesome British way, with flyaway hair, fox-like features and steely grey eyes, McCartney, 39, is distinctly un-fashiony compared to many of her contemporaries. Perhaps what stands out most is her waspish, sinewy figure, which she has admitted stemmed from being in the industry."I can honestly say this industry hasn't made me neurotic about my looks, except maybe my weight," she has said. "I hope my clothes kind of reflect that. They're meant to make you feel good, not give you more hang-ups." Named after her great-grandmothers, Stella Nina McCartney was born in London in 1971 to the ex-Beatle Paul and the photographer Linda Eastman McCartney. Her birth almost ended in tragedy as mother and child nearly died, and the event led her father to pray that she had entered life "on the wings of an angel", thus inspiring the name of her parents' band, Wings. She spent her early years on the road touring with the band, along with her siblings: her older half-sister, Heather (whom Paul legally adopted in 1980); her older sister, Mary; and her younger brother, James. "I actually spent my childhood between England, America and Scotland," she says. "We travelled a lot then, which I am sure had a really big impact on the way I think." Still, growing up, she assures me, was completely normal. "I attended the local state school, which gave me a better understanding of the real world, I suppose," McCartney says. She tells me that her family life simply revolved around school, dinner, telly and bed. This does seem remarkably normal, except that the average mother does not make the cover of Rolling Stone and the average father was not half of the greatest songwriting team in the history of pop music.But while most 12-year-olds can only dream, McCartney was already doing the odd day of work experience with the British designer Jean Muir."I grew up with creativity all around me and knew very early on I wanted to do something in the arts," she says. "I have always reacted to what's going on around me, picking up on the general feeling within an atmosphere. I spent a lot of my childhood watching old Hollywood films from the 50s like Annie Get Your Gun and going through my parents' closets. I spent a lot of my time in there trying on my parents' Savile Row suits, which is funny as later I eventually apprenticed there myself." From / The National