After ten years of catwalk shows in New York, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham had plenty to build on when she made her debut at London Fashion Week on Sunday.
The show - her first at London Fashion Week - was a bold celebration of her ten years as a designer. She has spoken about establishing the “codes” of her collections after a decade’s experience – that signature mix of masculine and feminine – sharply tailored jackets, figure-hugging tubular dresses for the womanly form, sexy negligees and killer numbers for the bright lights.
The collection, which was opened by 47-year-old model Stella Tennant, made its own statement about the VB customer, while the languid ease and colour – a camel jacket thrust casually over blue trousers and a striped vest – spoke volumes about feted New York ease.
Walk into Victoria Beckham’s flagship on Dover Street and it’s like walking into a modern art gallery. The Georgian building just opposite Comme des Garcons Dover Street Market was totally transformed in 2014 by the celebrated British-based Iranian architect Farshid Moussavi into a cool contemporary space all mirrored stainless steel, handmade furniture, concrete floors and a 4-metre wide polished concrete staircase. This season Beckham marked her 10- year anniversary in business by returning home to London from New York for London Fashion Week to showcase her spring 2019 collections.
Sharp minimalism
Layering made a red sweater dress over an asymmetrical skirt or a long striped dress over pants look modern and easygoing, while boat neck black dresses had that sharp minimalism characteristic of Beckham. Accessories are displayed in glass vitrines in the shop and the new collection has reworked versions of the Eva clutch and the Eva pump as well as jewellery that includes brass signet rings, tortoiseshell framed sunnies, brass whistle pendant necklaces and red leather bracelets.
To mark the anniversary collection, a special birthday T-shirt, already on display in the store, goes on sale for £115 (about €130). The designer was said to be promising to put in an appearance to take a turn on the till after her show.
