After hearing whispers that some big changes were in the works over at Stella McCartney, the designer has finally confirmed she’ll be launching an official menswear line later this year. The announcement was made today at Pitti Uomo in Florence, one of the biggest menswear trade shows in the industry. The first menswear collection will be debuted at a special presentation in London on November 10 in conjunction with her women’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection. The show will take a “see now, buy now” approach with buyers, and deliver product to stores by December, just in time for the holiday rush.
Until now the only men who were able to wear McCartney’s designs were her father, former Beatles member Paul McCartney, and her husband, Alasdhair Willis, with a few one-off pieces for Guy Ritchie and David Bowe. “The desire to marry the Stella woman to a man has been inside me since the very beginning,” McCartney told the New York Times. “My time on Savile Row inspired so much of what I do, and it feels like the right moment to talk to men and give them what they deserve. I want to deliver to men what I deliver to women … a wardrobe, a choice and effortless modern clothes.”
The collection will take a “modern approach” to menswear, and like her current collections, will be ethically sourced, sustainable, and fur- and leather-free. Unlike her other collections, the menswear line will be free form and not season specific. They’ll have rudimentary names like Collection One and Two and will be privately shown with her resort collections so buyers can see them months before the press.
So far it’s shaping up to be a busy year for McCartney: her new fragrance and first swimwear line is hitting stores in July; her Adidas x Stella McCartney Olympic uniforms will debut in August, and her new menswear will be revealed in November.
