Stella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Inspires a World of Fungi Research

Designer Stella McCartney’s Spring 2022 fashion show was inspired by mushrooms. Quite frankly, life on Anne of Carversville has not been the same since I watched on Netflix the 2019 ‘Fantastic Fungi’ documentary that prompted McCartney’s deep dive into the world of mushrooms.

Mushrooms are the visible part of an organism called mycelium, and they are not plants, even though they have a plantlike form. Even more important, until recently, fungi have been part of the botanist’s domain, and they were classified — incorrectly — as plants, writes the American Society For Microbiology in an article Three Reasons Fungi Are Not Plants.

Fungi and Africans: Both Misclassified and Misunderstood by Carl Linnaeus

Fungi were classified as plants for centuries due to an axiom attributed to Carl Linnaeus: “Plants grow and live; Animals grow, live and feel.”

Linnaeus’ delineation of plant activity seems inadequate and overly simplistic, given scientific research on the way in which plants experience sentient activity. We know that plants sense danger and then communicate their information to other plants, seeming to contradict Linnaeus’ assertions around plant life. NOT knowing his connection to racial categorization — I muttered to myself “Oh, right. In the same way some white dudes classified people of color as lesser-quality humans, they managed to ignore the profound distinctive attributes of fungi and mushrooms by calling them plants.”

Eureka! Linnaeus was deeply involved in the science of racial categorization. Rather than taking a sharp right turn in this post, AOC will stay with the fact that fungi can’t produce oxygen via photosynthesis, a core attribute of the plant kingdom.

It’s interesting when fashion, mushrooms and the civil rights movement come together in a single, cohesive thought pattern. Then again, the world of fungi is so primordial and pervasive in our biosphere that mycelium — the network of fungal threads or hyphae that produces the mushrooms we eat — strikes us as the very root of existence.

Current estimates are that the kingdom of fungi encompasses around 1.5 million different species, making fungi more species-prolific than plants. When we understand that fungi are recyclers, composting both plants and animals in order to enable nutrients to be returned into the ecosystem, we understand how they caught fashion’s queen of recycling Stella McCartney.

Stella McCartney is leading the way in working on the development of luxury leather made from mushrooms. The designer wants all of us to become curious about mushrooms, and I am now her dedicated disciple at AOC.

Stella McCartney Introduces Fashion World to Paul Stamets

Returning to Stella McCartney’s Spring 2022 fashion show, the fashion crowd heard the voice of American mycologist and entrepreneur Paul Stamets, who is considered an intellectual and industry leader in everything associated with fungi.

In only a few seconds, Stamets — who is the central figure in ‘Fantastic Fungi’ — summed up the future of fashion with his admonition:

“In fashion, mushrooms are the future.”

Here is the trailer for this truly profound documentary, one I haven’t stopped thinking about in almost two weeks. So I understand how Stella McCartney could become ‘obsessed’ with mycelium, given her deep attachment to land and nature.

Stella McCartney has been deeply committed to Bolt’Threads’ mycelium leather called Mylo, since 2017, and she shared her first Mylo production — a treasure trove of only 100 little black leather crescent handbags as part of her spring 2022 presentation. It was not the first time, we saw the future of Stella’s mushroom leather.

On March 23, 2021 when McCartney showed her fall collection, she shared the first prototypes of Mylo garments worn by earnest environmentalist and activist Paris Jackson.

In the world of mushroom leathers, science-oriented artisans are moving at a rapid pace. Stella works with Bolt Threads.

There is a second company of note, developing fungi-derived materials similar to Mylo, called MycoWorks.

MycoWorks is also headquartered in California and is bringing a vegan-leather bag to market with Hermes.

The MycoWorks process-oriented video is so inspiring in this wondrous world of mushrooms, that we share it again, so that readers gain more insights into how the mycelium is finished into an exquisite leather product for which no cows have died. Note that meat consumption is not decreasing in America, and that is a big problem.

Stop with the Mushrooms, Anne. How about Stella’s Other Sustainable Fabrics?

AOC closes out our mushroom world discussion with the video of Stella McCartney’s Summer 2022 show. The impromptu photography of spring designs from the show is worth the visit to Stella’s website.

It’s important to underscore that in addition to Stella’s commitment to mycelium, her collection also featured ‘forest-friendly’ viscose, which is sourced from sustainably-managed ancient forests in Sweden.

Originally considered to be good for the environment, demand for viscose became a probable driver of illegal deforestation, while felling 150 million trees each year.

In addition, viscose [or rayon] is made from plants but uses a chemically-intensive process to become a wearable fabric. These are the key reasons why Stella McCartney is using ‘forest-friendly’ viscose that is fully transparent in its transformation from tree harvest to fabric.

Stella’s Search for Silkworm Free Silk

Cupro, a byproduct of cotton harvest and is technically a recycled and cruelty-free alternative to silk. If you didn’t know that silk is a no-no among vegans, neither did AOC. McCartney has used silk but confesses her ambivalence about how silk worms are treated.

As a result, Stella has worked to use Peace Silk, a process that doesn’t harm the silkworms, who emerge from their cocoons as moths and fly away. The silk is then gathered in the forest. It’s a lovely story, but Stella admits that she continues to experience production challenges with the Peace Silk.

Doing some research, AOC learns that Stella has worked to develop Bolt Microsilk™ yarn. On her website, Stella calls it ‘synthetic spider silk’ and she believes this new fabric will be the future of her silk collection clothes.

In summation, Stella MCCartney is setting a very high bar and enduring commitment to solving the challenges of sustainable, earth-friendly fashion fabrics production. Her perseverance inspires beyond comprehension.

As for blue mushrooms, they do exist in nature, and for now we don’t have the mental wits to explain blue mushrooms to you. An explanation IS forthcoming. ~ Anne