Thanks to the Internet’s fascination with all things brand Beckham, you already know it will take more than a broken foot to stop matriarch Victoria from donning a heel (Alaïa’s Le Coeur pump – singular very much accurate in this instance). Nor, on Friday night, did it stop her from taking her Paris Fashion Week post-show bow at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, albeit slower than usual, on crutches (they did however put the brakes on wearing a pair of her new jumbo flares for the occasion. ‘I didn’t want another accident!’).
Earlier in the day, at a preview of the collection, Beckham joked that she was finding those crutches ‘very empowering’, using them to gesture at pieces from the AW24 collection. Plus, a bit of lemons-into-lemonade philosophy: ‘I’m just being positive. It’s a really good arm workout’.
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She has other reasons to be cheerful too. In front of an audience that included the family (minus Romeo), Beckham presented a collection that was ‘really was about going back to my roots and celebrating silhouette’. That didn’t mean in the manner of those early days body-con dresses; it was odder – something that has emerged in recent years, a sign of her growing confidence – though still elegant.
Beckham found herself thinking about the ‘wardrobe as a source of inspiration in a more literal sense’ an idea translated in deconstructed jackets and trousers that recalled garments suspended from hangers in a closet. The voluminous swish of a dress took its cue from sheets drying on a washing line, whipping up in the wind. Twisted hardware meanwhile was inspired by wire hangers (Beckham + wire hangers!?! Now that is a scoop) and Picasso’s Light Drawings.
She has a good eye for accessories does Posh. This season that meant flatform loafers, cubic pouches, and 'B' buckle bags. A new top handle bag was inspired by a briefcase bought for David in Tokyo.
People who have met Beckham in person (and millions more post Netflix doc) will tell you that she is very, very funny. It’s great to see those little touches of wit, those bizzarro details find expression in her work. And clearly its resonating. At her preview Beckham spoke of ‘looking at brand codes that I create and then collect along the way’. In establishing and evolving her design language, Beckham has a buoyant business proposition. ‘Fashion in its own right has turned a profit,’ she said at the preview. 'Now is when we can really start building the house that I always dreamed of.'
Add to that that, although she perhaps doesn’t really live in a world of wire hangers and laundry drying on a line, Beckham has an excellent intuition for what women really want to wear (a nice detail clocked: a semi sheer dress that didn’t reveal the nipples. Despite the memo on other catwalks, most women aren’t ready to free them in public quite yet). ‘I love the fact that I can create clothes I desire and want to wear myself. I’ve always been a real girl’s girl,’ Beckham said of her position as a female creative director. ‘All of my friends are women. I love interacting with the community and creating what I believe women want to wear’.
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