Stella McCartney — Print Collection Stella 01 (2011)
Essence
Print Collection Stella 01 (2011) is the original 2003 Stella formulation in a limited-edition 30ml bottle, dressed in a floral print drawn from Stella McCartney’s Spring 2011 ready-to-wear collection. The juice is not new: it is the pre-2014 Stella, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud’s modern rose-and-amber composition that became a quiet cult favorite. What makes this edition interesting is that the printed flacon preserves the original formulation that the 2014 reissue later changed, making it a collector’s snapshot of the rose Stella McCartney is best remembered for.
Scent Profile
The opening is fresh and slightly tart: mandarin paired with peony and a dewy, cool rose. It reads bright rather than sweet, with the peony lending a chilled, watery quality that keeps the first moments crisp. The heart is the point of the fragrance. Rose absolute becomes the central voice, often described as dry and slightly salty rather than jammy or powdery. The recurring image is “a red rose pressed and dried between the pages of a book,” a phrase tied to Stella McCartney’s own brief to the perfumer. This is a modern rose, polished and contemporary rather than vintage and heavy. The drydown is where the original distinguishes itself from the later reissue: a warm, faintly resinous amber settles under the rose, with a mild salinity that gives the base depth. The rose-amber pairing is the signature accord and carries the long middle and drydown almost linearly once the citrus burns away.
Performance
Longevity is moderate-to-good, commonly running six to eight hours, with moderate sillage that stays present without becoming loud. It sits closer to the skin after the bright opening fades and behaves as an intimate rose signature rather than a room-filling perfume. The original roll-on version was more concentrated and lasted longer than the spray, a detail worth knowing when evaluating remaining stock.
Wearing Context
This reads best in cooler weather and in evening or moody-daytime settings. Wearers describe it as a winter rose with a dressed-up, slightly retro register rather than a sunny daytime or office scent. The dry, salty, amber-warmed character reads sophisticated rather than youthful, suiting romantic, artistic, or dressed occasions. The small printed 30ml format also makes it feel giftable and portable.
Comparisons & DNA
The clearest reference is Stella itself, since that is the juice inside the bottle. Stella (2014) is the reformulated successor: cleaner, more citrus-and-peony-forward, with much less amber and a soapier finish, so it does not substitute for the original character. Stella Rose Absolute (2005) is a deeper, more concentrated take on the same DNA, also discontinued and collectible. Outside the house, the salty-dry-amber-rose idea has loose echoes in Frederic Malle Une Rose, which is drier, denser, and more wine-dark, but no direct equivalent is widely documented.
Reception
Reception of the Print Collection bottles specifically is thin, centered on appreciation for the original formulation and the printed flacon as a collector object. The underlying juice has a strong following: wearers consistently praise the realism of the rose, the balance of warmth and freshness, and the distinctive salty-dry character. A recurring criticism is that it can read too dark, too restrained, or old-fashioned, particularly to younger wearers. The polarization is mostly generational rather than about quality, and the original is widely held to outclass the lighter 2014 reformulation.
Versions & Reformulation
Reformulation history is central to this edition’s value. The 2003 original was reformulated in 2014 into a meaningfully different, lighter, less ambered, more peony-and-citrus version. The Print Collection bottles released in 2011 and 2012 contain the pre-reformulation juice, while the 2015 Print Collection release reportedly contains the post-2014 formulation. Because the original has not been reissued in any form that restores the 2003 character, the 2011 and 2012 Print bottles are among the few remaining sources of the original juice.
Acquisition Notes
The 30ml EDP is the only documented format for this edition. It is discontinued and now found mainly on the secondary market, with pricing that varies widely by bottle condition and presentation; sealed examples can command a premium comparable to other discontinued Stella releases. Confirming the exact edition and year matters, since collectors are paying partly for the original formulation and partly for the printed bottle. Authentication is the usual practical concern for any secondary-market designer reissue.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The Print Collection concept carried Stella McCartney’s runway print motifs onto fragrance bottles, turning a daily-wear perfume into a small design object.
- The Stella 01 bottle used a floral print drawn from the Spring 2011 ready-to-wear collection.
- The 2012 Print Collection followed with vintage-inspired tile motifs, and the 2015 release used a different geometric design.
- The original Stella was built around Stella McCartney’s brief to capture “a red rose pressed between book pages.”
- The 2014 relaunch campaign featured Lara Stone, photography by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and music by Warpaint, though that belongs to the broader Stella lineage rather than this edition.