Stella McCartney’s parents introduced “genderless” fashion to her.

The 49-year-old designer can recall her parents, Beatles icon Sir Paul McCartney and late photographer Linda McCartney, sharing their clothes when she was growing up and that idea of having sexless clothes never left and has always inspired her creations.

In an interview with OK! magazine, she said: “Mum and dad would share a wardrobe. So I saw this kind of genderless relationship between clothing. I think I was just really drawn to that.

“My earliest memories are of sitting in my mum and dad’s wardrobe and looking at all their clothes. I would watch films too, and I just knew that I wanted to do something that was creative. And, you know, I had parents that were in entertainment, so I would watch them work with costumes. But then we grew up on a farm, so it would be very contrasting worlds.

“One minute it was bareback on a horse and the next minute it was thigh-high boots and rock ‘n’ roll! So I got this incredible insight into costumes and wardrobes.”

Stella – who has just released her first-ever range made from Mylo, laboratory grown mushroom leather – says another major inspiration behind her designs is the psychology of clothes, how certain garments can make you “feel good” whereas other items can make you “feel bad”.

She said: “As I got older, I knew fashion was my choice of career. I went to be an intern in Paris and I was just sold. But the thing that also made me really want to pursue it wasn’t the glamour. It was the psychological side to it, that what you wear is a reflection of who you are and how you feel.

“Some things can make you feel good and other things can make you feel bad. I found that really fascinating.”