Stella McCartney is officially a knight. The British designer was made Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur at an award ceremony held at the Élysée Palace’s winter garden on Thursday. The Légion d’Honneur, created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, is France’s highest distinction and can also be given to non-French citizens for actions that benefit the country.
It was an intimate ceremony with around 50 guests. With McCartney, “friends and family” naturally means a gathering of influential figures, including her father Paul McCartney, Bianca Jagger, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Naomi Watts, Baz Luhrmann, Anna Wintour, Delphine Arnault, Antoine Arnault, Natalia Vodianova, and Charlotte Casiraghi. McCartney’s husband, Alasdhair Willis, and two of their four children also attended, as did her siblings.
For the occasion, McCartney appeared in the second look from her fall 2026 show: a navy skirt suit with a peplum and a faux-fur trim made of recycled polyester. The faux fur at the beginning of the show was a reference to McCartney’s early days, when she interned at Christian Lacroix. “I cannot promise it will match your outfit,” France’s President Emmanuel Macron told McCartney before pinning the red-ribboned cross on the designer’s left pocket. During a 15-minute speech, he praised her contributions to fashion, sustainability, innovation, animal welfare, and France.
Macron spoke about McCartney’s graduate collection at Central Saint Martins, handmade in the family garage, featuring tailoring sourced from vintage markets. Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Yasmin Le Bon walked the show, and Paul McCartney was behind the music. “It made headlines and sold out almost instantly. Not so bad for a graduate collection,” Macron noted.
