# Stella McCartney — Print Collection Stella 01 (2012)

> Print Collection Stella 01 (2012) is not a distinct fragrance but a limited-edition collector's bottle of Stella McCartney's signature 2003 Stella, the same rose-amber juice in a decorative flacon. Th

## Essence
Print Collection Stella 01 (2012) is not a distinct fragrance but a limited-edition collector's bottle of Stella McCartney's signature 2003 Stella, the same rose-amber juice in a decorative flacon. The Print Collection, launched in 2011 and reissued seasonally, wrapped the standard eau de parfum in bottles printed with vintage-style florals lifted from McCartney's ready-to-wear collections. Everything true of the original Stella, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud's modern rose-and-amber composition, is true here; only the packaging and the collectibility differ.
## Scent Profile
Stella is a soft, modern, slightly powdery rose-amber. Mandarin and rose open bright and dewy, with crisp citrus lifting the first moments. The heart is rose and peony, the peony lending a fresh, watery facet that keeps the rose from turning heavy.
The base is the signature: a pale, polished amber with light musk and a whisper of wood. The critic Robin at Now Smell This described it as "not a deep, dark amber at all... rather pale and polished and only slightly warm," reading as "casual and laid back more than sexy." The rose stays prominent but soft, with a modern feel that appeals even to people who do not usually like rose.
The original 2003 formulation, the one in these 2011 and 2012 Print bottles, carried a slightly jammy, smoky, leathery undercurrent that gave it more depth than the later reissue.
## Performance
This is fundamentally a soft, intimate rose with minimal sillage, but the pre-2014 formulation in these bottles had real presence, with wearers recalling it as strong and long-lasting. Longevity on the original juice runs well, and it sits close to the skin as a comfortable signature rather than a projecting statement. Bottles from 2011 and 2012 predate the 2014 reformulation that wearers widely judge much weaker, so these editions should carry the better-performing juice.
## Wearing Context
A versatile, everyday rose: office-safe, daytime, and three-season, leaning spring and fall. It reads classy and romantic without being girly or old-fashioned, and its softness makes it a comfortable personal signature more than an occasion scent. The small 30ml Print bottles were pitched as purse-friendly travel-retail items.
## Comparisons & DNA
The critic Victoria at Bois de Jasmin places Stella in the lineage of ambery rose velvets, alongside Lancome Mille et Une Roses and Frederic Malle Une Rose. It is less rose-saturated than the Parfums de Rosine school, making it a rose for people who do not love rose. The most-cited modern stand-in after discontinuation is a deeper rose-patchouli such as Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady, though that is far heavier. Within the brand, the closest relatives are the flankers Stella Rose Absolute, a deeper and brighter rose, and Stella Eau de Toilette, a lighter sparkling rose.
## Reception
Stella itself is a modern classic and widely beloved, while the Print Collection editions are received primarily as collectible objects. Wearers praise the soft realistic rose and the easy-wearing balance; the critic Robin at Now Smell This admired more than adored it, noting it does not smell like a typical department-store designer perfume. Detractors split two ways: some find it too soft and forgettable, while others find it too amber-and-tangerine-heavy and even headache-inducing. Rose perception varies sharply by skin chemistry, which accounts for much of the disagreement.
## Versions & Reformulation
Stella exists in two materially different states. The 2003 original, found in these 2011 and 2012 Print bottles, is richer, more velvety, and amber-heavy, with a jammy, smoky, leathery undertone and strong longevity. The 2014 relaunch was marketed as unchanged but is widely judged a reformulation: much weaker and lighter, fruitier and soapier, with the smoky-leathery character lost. The Print Collection 30ml bottles were issued in 2011, 2012, and 2015, and the entire Stella line has since been discontinued.
## Acquisition Notes
Discontinued and increasingly collectible, with secondary-market prices for original Stella climbing into roughly the $200 to $500 range. For the 2012 Print edition the appeal is dual: the better pre-2014 juice plus the decorative bottle. Buyers should verify the production era, since a 2011 or 2012 Print bottle should hold the original formulation while later listings may carry the weaker post-2014 juice. The perfumer is Jacques Cavallier Belletrud throughout.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- Stella was McCartney's first fragrance, launched in 2003 as a tribute to her late mother, Linda McCartney.
- It was inspired by "the big, fragrant, olde-worlde roses that her mother used to buy."
- McCartney's brief asked the perfumer to capture "the fragility of the high summer rose when the petals are just about to fall off."
- The Print Collection bottles used floral motifs lifted directly from McCartney's runway prints.
- The glass gradated dark-to-light to reveal the juice, a deliberate fashion-object design that drives the editions' collector appeal.