Stella steals the fashion show

The 36-year-old designer, whose third child is due early next year, was awarded the top prize of designer of the year at the annual British Fashion Awards.

Since launching her collection in 2001, McCartney has gone from strength to strength, carving out a real niche with sharp but feminine tailoring and nifty ways with a slip dress. She also launched her first beauty collection, Care, this summer.

"This is such a brilliant award but the people who really deserve it are my team. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been able to have three kids under the age of three," said an emotional McCartney, accepting her award from actress Thandie Newton. She added: "This is also for my husband and children. Thank you for making my life worth living."

Certainly nobody at the Lawrence Hall in Westminster could grudge her this good cheer, coming after a rather unpleasant few months. In September McCartney, a strict vegetarian, was criticised for her links to adidas, for whom she designs a sportswear range, after the company was exposed as slaughtering thousands of kangaroo for skins to make its footballs.

This month she was dragged into the messy divorce battle between Heather Mills and her father, Sir Paul. Interviewed on American television, Ms Mills claimed that the designer had done "evil things" to split the couple, supposedly worried that Ms Mills would "get all the planes and diamonds". With her own business riding high - it broke into the black for the first time this year after a £15 million investment from Gucci Group - the suggestion that McCartney needs her father's riches seems rather ludicrous. Also honoured was Mancunian model Agyness Deyn, whose quirky fashion sense and engaging personality won her model of the year. After a spell as a redhead then a brunette, Deyn's trademark crop was back to peroxide blonde. Dressed in a diaphanous black feathered gown by Giles Deacon, she accepted her award with a mobile phone glued to one ear, explaining that she was on the line to her mother. "Yeah, mum, I won. It's the equivalent of the fashion Oscars," she shouted.

Another deserving winner was Anya Hindmarch, who bagged designer brand of the year. Hindmarch's handbags, which cost upwards of £500, enjoy a cult status among fashionable women, and her £5 canvas I'm Not a Plastic Bag saw her become a household name this year.

Marchesa, which comprises Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig, won the red carpet designer award, after a year which has seen them dress Sienna Miller, Jennifer Lopez, Scarlett Johansson and Mischa Barton.

Guests at the awards, presented by Zoe Ball, included Lily Allen, Stuart Rose, Philip Green, Emilia Fox, Kelly Osbourne, Erin O'Connor, Jasmine Guinness and Roland Mouret.