GIF: Victoria Beckham, s/s 2015 - Getty

‘I may work behind the till,’ quipped Victoria Beckham backstage after her excellent show, when asked about her new store, scheduled to open on London’s Dover Street this autumn. ‘Who knows,’ she added, ‘I could even get Brooklyn in to be a Saturday girl.’

Joking aside, there’s nothing like the prospect of a first flagship store to spur a designer into making an excellent collection with a powerfully honed image. That’s what VB did this morning. Where last season’s collection went conceptually off-piste (they were beautiful clothes but you just couldn’t imagine the designer wearing them), spring/summer 2015 boasted trademark pieces and a sinewy silhouette that was more her – longer and subtly sexy. 

Beckham said she wanted a collection that could walk right off the catwalk and into someone’s wardrobe. Looking at her backstage, wearing her own designs – a slim, dark green calf-length skirt and black sweater with her signature high heels, the living embodiment of her brand – you could imagine them doing just that. Note: high heels. Not the new winklepicker-cum-cowboy flats she created for her show – her own-designed shoes were a new addition to VB World, that may or may not go into production, she said. But you know they will. Victoria Beckham is nothing if not a disciplined strategist; it just wouldn’t be like her to make such a big deal of them and for them to go nowhere. The other style of footwear was super high and blocky, and came in leather, suede and velvet.

Image: Victoria Beckham, s/s 2015 - Getty

As for the clothes, it was the idea of ‘an eclectic uniform’ that informed the slender tailoring made from natural-coloured jute that belted at the waist. Short jackets and lean trousers carried military style pockets and prominent buttons that gave a slick uniform vibe to the collection. And there was lots of knitwear: don’t forget, this will hit the stores in January and Beckham's ultimate aim, after all, is to be ‘wearable’, so slim black dresses came knitted with graphic bands of white at the hem. A single white sweater that laced on the hip was an absolute standout, as was the burgundy trouser suit. 

And then came the unexpected – a striped onesie! Or ‘jumpsuit’, as she corrected backstage. 'I wanted that element of fun’, she explained. Would she wear said jumpsuit? Probably not. But that and the screen-printed florals – yes, there was print, and it was pink! – were a welcome addition none the less, adding prettiness and quirk to the more serious workaday looks. And there was no big pitch to dress the red carpet either – no glamour gowns to speak of – which was also, somehow, welcome. This was less about VB distancing herself from celebrity and more about her addressing the needs of working women.

Although David Beckham and Brooklyn were out in support, sandwiched between Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington, the absence of Harper meant there was no media scrum – another positive. The focus here was on Victoria Beckham, a designer at work.