Stella McCartney On Relaunching Her Iconic Fragrance & Shooting A ‘Very Naked’ Lara Stone

The only thing that could top having macaroons for breakfast is sharing them with Stella McCartney. And that's exactly what happened this morning when Grazia Daily arrived at Ladurée in Harrods to celebrate the launch (or rather 're-launch') of the designer's iconic fragrance.

Everyone sitting along the gorgeously decorated table was all ears as Stella talked us through the scent-making process. 'I do take this side of my life very seriously,' she said. Encouraging us to take a whiff of the roses, Stella explained that it was her childhood on an organic farm in England that inspired STELLA when it first launched in 2003 - as well as the McCartney rose.

'Roses resonate with me on a personal level. My mother make the McCartney rose into an essential oil. I now can't walk past roses without smelling them. I always feel cheated if they don't have a scent!'

As well as the English countryside, the designer was motivated to create a fragrance that wasn't just a 'one-hit-wonder or too in-your-face' like many of the celebrity fragrances which were popular at the time. 'They were so sweet, I'd get a headache!' Instead Stella made a scent that was timeless and a bottle you'd be proud to have in your bathroom cabinet. Besides, 'I've always found it wrong to throw away a bottle once the juice runs out. But maybe I'm just a hoarder!'

So while the bottle and the fragrance are the same as we've always known, the polka dot packaging and campaign is entirely new and reflects what the brand has become today. As we revealed earlier this week, Lara Stone is the new STELLA face and the Dutch model poses entirely starkers in the images shot by Mert and Marcus.

So why Lara? 'I chose her because we have a real connection,' says Stella. 'I only work with models I genuinely admire as a person and I don't like doing anything if there isn't an emotional attachment.' Indeed, it was back in 2007 that Lara first hit the designer's catwalk. 'She's also really sexy, isn’t she?'. Umm, YES.

As well as being super-sexy, Lara now has an added dose of maturity after becoming a mother last year. 'She was quite fragile at the time [of the shoot] because she'd just given birth and I was asking her to get veeery naked. She looked amazing, but must've been like, "Thanks a lot!"' Either way, the images, Stella says, barely needed airbrushing.

As for whether the model was joined on set by her comedian husband, David Walliams, Stella says no. 'That would've been a disaster. He would've wanted to get naked!'