Woman with Heart

Pop singer, mother, fashion designer and UNAIDS ambassador Victoria Beckham is all this and more and as she tells Tatler in this exclusive interview, the role she relishes most is empowering women

Ireally like women,” declares Victoria Beckham. “Well, not in that way,” she adds to an eruption of laughter from the audience. “I want to empower women. I want them to go out confident and feeling sexy—which is why I do what I do.” The petite fashion designer was recently in the Lion City for the Singapore Fashion Week, where her autumn/winter 2015 collection was shown for the first time in Asia as the closing show. Just a day later, the tireless Brit was already fronting several engagements, including an exclusive cocktail with British Airways where Tatler was invited to conduct a live interview with her on stage. “This season, it was about sexy dressing again,” she says of her collection. “I wanted to bring it back to being focused on my signature silhouette and pushing it forward to offer something new. It was mainly about dresses; texture, as well. “The opportunity to show my collection and close Singapore Fashion Week is hugely exciting,” adds the designer, who says the Victoria Beckham brand “is me—it’s about a woman who really loves fashion and appreciates luxury”. If anyone should know about arriving in style, it’s Victoria. Dressed in a standout black number from her latest collection, sporting glowing tanned skin and her long hair brushed over one shoulder, she showed no signs of jetlag or fatigue. Asked for her tips on arriving fresh and camera-ready after longhaul flights, she quips: “Dark sunglasses. They hide a multitude of sins. But you know, I think that the important thing is to stay hydrated. And use a good moisturiser. And try to rest whenever you can.” Like a true professional, Victoria worked her cool, unsmiling charm, fielding questions and even posing a few of her own to the British Airways pilots present. The multifaceted woman added another facet to her public persona when she was appointed as an International Goodwill Ambassador by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) last September. She shares, “I was having breakfast with Anna Wintour and I said to her, I’m going to be 40. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to give back. And Anna said to me, my team is going to Africa next week and you should go with them. So I did. “While I was there, UNAIDS asked me to work with them. This started a very important journey for me and I have a lot to learn. I’m not pretending that I know everything, but I have a responsibility, and for whatever reason, people will listen to what I have to say. I’ve gone on a few field trips, and I’m going to return to Africa again in the summer, just educating myself and standing up for UNAIDS, and raising awareness.” In spite of her breathless schedule, Victoria gets up at 6am every day to work out. And she counts commitment as one of the key factors to her success. “At the end of the day, I think it’s having a vision and working hard. If I can do it, anyone can do it,” she enthuses. “I think when you have a family, you don’t have as much time for yourself as you might like. I have a great team of people who help manage my schedule so that I can work and look after my children.” Her four children are another surprising reason she doesn’t suffer from jetlag: “I don’t have time to get any jetlag. They take up so much time!” “I look up to women all around the world, especially women who have children. Because it’s not easy when you’re trying to raise a family and also work at the same time. So I have respect for them.”