Stella McCartney was born in 1971 in London, a daughter of the famous Paul McCartney from the Beatles and Linda McCartney, a photographer. 

McCartney spent her young years traveling the world with her family and attended school in East Sussex. She discovered her initial interest in fashion design at the age of 13 when she designed her first piece of clothing. After 3 years, she got an internship at Christian Lacroix.

She studied at both the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication and Central Saint Martins. Her Saint Martins' graduation collection (1995) was worn by supermodels such as Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell and accompanied by her father's song "Stella May Day".

In 2001, McCartney opened a joint venture in collaboration with the Gucci Group (now Kering), which became her own fashion house "Stella McCartney". The first womenswear collection was shown in Paris. Since then, the brand has expanded to 17 stores in the main fashion metropoles, including an assortment of menswear, kidswear, lingerie, and skincare. She also collaborated with well-established companies such as Disney and Adidas, including designing clothes for the Olympic Games.

In 2018, she purchased Kering's stake in the fashion brand under her name and took full control of the company.