why victoria wants the world to see ‘the real me’
‘ VICTORIA IS EVERYTHING you want her to be and more,’ Derek Blasberg tells Grazia at the launch of Victoria Beckham’s Youtube channel last week. Their joint venture promises to give an insight into the former Spice Girl’s life. ‘She’s loosened her grip on her own image – and she’s enjoyed doing it,’ he says.
That ‘loosened grip’ came into full force last week, when the designer, 44, released her first video on the platform. Entitled VB On The Road, it captured behind-the-scenes action from the designer’s recent Reebok collection launch in New York. She is seen complaining about the cold (‘thrilled that I am going to die of pneumonia in New York,’ she said in a deadpan tone) and her untidy hotel room (‘It’s like I threw up everywhere!’ she laughed).
The channel, which launched in tandem with her A/W ’19 show at London Fashion Week, is officially a window into Victoria’s world, featuring fly-on-the-wall footage and scripted moments about her brand and her role as its creative director ( it will also no doubt help publicise her much-anticipated beauty launch, in September). But, by all accounts, it’s also the chance for Victoria to show the ‘real her’. Or, in Derek’s words, her ‘hilarious and fabulous’ side.
It’s a side that she has been at pains to convey for years on social media (see the near ceaseless stream of Instagram pictures documenting her marriage to David and her family life), but – despite her friends, family and employees routinely insisting that she’s hilarious – one that the public has perhaps been slower to catch up on. As Victoria herself said in one interview, ‘I’m going to be the real me, I’m not being too precious about it. I think it’s important that people don’t just see the perfect version.’
But why now? Derek – Youtube’s fashion and beauty director – personally recruited Victoria as he thought she would be the perfect candidate for a tailor-made online experience. ‘She’s an indisputable fashion legend, has a fashion brand, and also does beauty,’ he added. ‘And she’s
hysterical and fabulous.’ Case in point? ‘Last month, when I was in London – she smuggled in tequila in a hipflask to see Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.’
According to Derek, who is known as the A-list’s plus one and is close friends with everyone from Karlie Kloss to Gwyneth Paltrow and Alexa Chung, it was the Beckham children’s obsession with Youtube that also helped to seal the deal.
‘I should send Brooklyn, Romeo and even Harper flowers, because they’re the ones that showed her how influential the Youtube community is,’ he said. ‘She was asking them, “Who’s your favourite Youtuber?” I think Romeo liked Ninja the Gamer. I was like, “Thank you!”’
But the timing of the launch may also indicate another benefit. Despite insiders insisting Victoria has always ‘used digital platforms to engage directly with her audience’, the channel will no doubt offer the most personal glimpse into Victoria’s life yet. And that could be useful to change the conversation after a difficult year for the Beckham family. It saw frenzied rumours of a split last summer compounded when David gave an interview in which he described marriage as ‘hard work’.
However, the Beckham family appeared to put the entire saga behind them, as they put on a show of unity on the front row at Victoria’s fashion show. (Last week, she also batted off any suggestion of difficulties within the marriage saying, ‘David is such a great husband.’) And there was a new member of the clan: Brooklyn’s new girlfriend, 21-year-old model Hana Cross. She appears to have become something of a muse for Victoria, wearing a white VB suit to the Youtube launch party, after previously modelling Victoria’s Reebok collection on Instagram.
And if you needed further proof that she has officially been welcomed into the fold, last week it was reported that Brooklyn has been gifted his own wing of the Beckhams’ mansion, so that the loved-up couple ‘can have some privacy’, said a source. Watch this space – Hana might swap the FROW for the catwalk at Victoria’s next show...