I FEEL HAPPIER IN MY SKIN NOW THAN AT 20
THE THEME OF THIS Big Fashion Issue is ‘sexy’, so who better in the business of fashion than Victoria Beckham to discuss the subject? On the one hand, there’s her chameleonic style evolution spanning 20 years, as provocatively sexy in the first decade as it has been dramatically reinvented in the second. From Posh to footballer’s wife to celebrated fashion entrepreneur, she’s taken us on the journey of her every corset, breast implant, stiletto and Stan Smith trainer. On the other hand, not content with being just an extremely famous person, she set about reinventing and re-educating herself and along the way gave birth to a phenomenally successful fashion brand, whose signature style – sexy, body-contouring dresses – is still the bedrock of her business. In other words, Victoria Beckham is the world’s most qualified fashion person to speak on the subject of sartorial sexiness. What she doesn’t know about sexy fashion isn’t worth knowing, etc, etc.
There’s just one problem. Organising an interview with the busiest woman in fashion would be a challenge under normal circumstances, but this is the week before her S/S ’17 show. She’s only just flown back to London from LA, faces an onslaught of back-to-back meetings on VB for Estée Lauder (the limited edition make-up line being her latest brand extension) and she needs to finalise all the looks for her latest collection before jetting off to show it in New York – all in three days! Oh, and there’s another potential snag; Victoria isn’t so keen on using the word ‘sexy’ – of which more later. We’re going to have to get the ball rolling via email and follow up with a phone call post show.
It’s just as well I’ve met her so many times before, all the way back to Posh – named so
because she was the slightly less attainable Spice, elevated by what she wore even if, back in the ’90s, that meant a strapless laminated-to-the-body micro tube dress. As she explains to me today on our email chat: ‘Even in the Spice Girls, I was expressing my own sense of style – I always gravitated towards the little black dress and my own version of minimalism – just a slightly less refined version than these days! I’m not embarrassed by any of my past outfits – I was just having fun experimenting, and I look back and they make me smile.’ Of the skintight, flesh-exposing Spice uniforms in the Victoria #1 era, I wonder how they made her feel: was she comfortable? Was her aim to be that provocative? ‘When I look back on it I think I was simply wearing things that made me feel good. The clothes reflected my personality in the band, and I certainly felt empowered – Girl Power was what the band was all about and that’s a sentiment that stayed with me throughout my career.’
Her personal style reinvention is well chronicled. But the reincarnation she performed when she launched herself into the fashion world in 2008 was a triumph. Two years after the Baden-baden World Cup outfit of white hotpants, white Birkin bag and tight red England vest, and only one year after the transformation into pneumatic peroxide blonde in fuchsia criss-cross Hervé Léger bandage dress, she emerged in New York at the Waldorf Hotel to present her first collection with a dark pixie haircut, minimal make-up and simple dress. The clothes she presented reflected her own new, sleekly polished style, albeit still overtly sexy with built-in corsets and zips snaking down backs of body-contouring dresses that could easily be removed at a moment’s notice. ‘I’m very aware how powerful it was for my brand to have developed that signature so early on,’ she says of the sexy dresses (made on repeat but not shown on the catwalk) that remain core to her £30 million-a-year business.
That was Victoria #2, the fashion early years that celebrated the body in all its sophisticated sexiness. But the most important, perhaps, is Victoria #3, the becoming-a-real-fashion- designer years. You see, VB, I think, wasn’t satisfied with the ‘sexy’ label her collections swiftly became known for (and is perhaps still why she doesn’t like to use the word). She wanted to prove herself with fashion that didn’t instantly make you think of form-fitting dresses and, in a way, of her. Only, this is Victoria Beckham we’re talking about – she IS the brand – which meant she had to evolve yet again. Gone were the wiggle dresses and anything resembling traditional red-carpet eveningwear and in their place looser, softer, cooler clothes like jumpers with ankle-grazing kilts and long skirts over slouchy trousers. Most tellingly, the former steely stilettos were replaced with flat masculine shoes. There were a few wobbly collections, granted, when she looked a little too closely at other designers for inspiration, most notably Céline, but she persevered and the industry was genuinely won over, showering her with awards. This is how she told me she felt at the time: ‘As I’ve got older and gained in confidence, I don’t feel the need to go out and show off how tiny my waist is. I’ve loosened up, I wear a lot more separates and suits – a lot more clothes! I think the older you get, the more accepting you are of yourself and your body shape. You have to be quite confident to cover up. But now people are more accepting of me, so I can push it, fashion-wise.’
Today, we’re deep into Victoria #4, the confident designer years. Well, you’ve got to be confident to return to the sexiness you worked so hard to escape from. It made a full throttle return for her A/W ’16 show – but in a clever, cool, unexpected way, taking the form of tweedy corsets with cut-outs at the ribs exposing flashes of skin, and fine soft body-hugging knits in deep spice colours that were layered to resemble bodices. ‘I went right back to the hourglass shapes from my first collections and
I ENJOY THE WHOLE PROCESS OF DRESSING UP – IT’S A WAY OF CELEBRATING BEING A WOMAN
tried to rework and exaggerate them. I really felt they offered a modern take on red carpet [dressing],’ she says. And then, being her own ultimate brand ambassador, she wore the standout look (far right) from the collection on the red carpet in Cannes: a noticeably non-cleavage-enhancing softly boned corset with tailored trousers. ‘I just wanted to feel comfortable and like myself,’ she says simply.
That’s what I admire in VB. She’s going her own way. Not for her the gigantic oversizing and androgyny that was taken to the absolute limit this season. While some of fashion’s most influential brands are producing clothes with a gleeful disregard for the male gaze, hers are looking for new ways to solve the conundrum of what makes modern fashion sexy – the question I put to her now. ‘I think it’s sexy when you leave a little bit to the imagination,’ she pauses. ‘Very rarely do I go out in anything that is revealing – I used to – and that has nothing to do with the fact that I’m older, it just feels more relevant. It feels like a newer, fresher take on what might be considered sexy. I think sexy comes from within, I think sexy is the way you conduct yourself. I think you have to feel sexy to look sexy. And feel confident to look confident – I just wish there was another word, other than sexy, to describe that confidence and empowerment you feel!’
As for what else she had to say about sexy… Is being strong sexy? ‘Absolutely, strength and confidence always shine through, and I think both men and women are attracted to that.’ Is being older sexy? ‘I think so, and I know that I feel happier in my skin now than I did at 20. With age comes experience, assuredness and knowledge, all of which are very desirable attributes in a woman.’ Is it important to feel sexy? ‘For me it is. I think I’m quite a girly girl at heart and I enjoy the whole process of getting dressed up – from choosing an outfit to having my hair and make-up done – I always have! For me it is a way of celebrating being a woman.’
At 10.15pm the day after her show in New York and the night before we go to press – eek! – she calls, as promised, buzzing with excitement and apologising for the lateness – she’s calling from her car on the way to appear on the Seth Myers show. I wonder if she’s wearing the kind of look she wore backstage at her show – billowing blouse, slouchy linen trousers and simple flat sandals – much commented on for it being so low-key and laid-back. ‘Oh no, that’s just what I wear to work,’ she says. ‘There’s just too much going on the day of the show to get myself all done up, but you’re right, not many people see me dressed like that.’ She’s very happy with her show, which was, by all accounts, another hit: ‘I really feel proud of this collection, like I came into my own,’ she says of her softest, most relaxed take on sexy yet – repeating her buzz words: newer, fresher, relevant, effortless, thrown together – although: ‘I can’t tell you the amount of effort that goes into making it look so effortless.’ She’s talking about all the washed, pleated, slippery, crushed fabrics (one chiffon is so floaty she calls it seafoam), drenched in colour from peppermint to bright orange – the latter she tells me she’s wearing right now, a knit version of the velvet shown on the runway: ‘There’s not one single thing in the collection I wouldn’t wear myself, not one piece.’ And if she had to sum it up, this new collection, new her? ‘I’d say it was easy and happy. And I guess that’s how I feel. I’m really lucky to absolutely love what I do and for things to be going so well and to have such a great family – all those things, and I think that’s what you can see in the collection. I’m really, really happy.’ Meet VB #5.
WITH AGE COMES EXPERIENCE, ASSUREDNESS AND KNOWLEDGE, ALL VERY DESIRABLE ATTRIBUTES