the 15 New Clothes of Victoria

Thinking about Victoria Beckham’s style, fake orange tan and skimpy outfits immediately come to mind so when she announced she would develop her own line, everyone was a tad anxious to see the results. And they didn’t have long to wait: this New York Fashion week was the occasion chosen by the marketing people behind the DVB brand to unveil, in the luminous Salons of the Waldorf Hotel, the collection of dresses by Victoria Beckham.

The capsule collection, composed uniquely of 15 dresses is rather simple and without surprise as it emulates the styles sported by Victoria lately. The dresses are body fitting and the mid-calf length calls for high heels to achieve best effect. However, the material used - silk, wool, organza for instance- as well as the attention to details give to the collection gives a certain luxurious feel. One will notably find light internal corsetry and grosgrain ribbon outlining the waistline to ensure the diaphanous outfits' stability and to avoid any wardrobe malfunction, something one should always fear when it comes to strapless bustier dresses and Victoria certainly has some experience with the matter.

So, it is not without anticipating scepticism among the fashion professionals that Victoria - sporting for the occasion a new pixie do that almost upstaged the show – made sure we understand that she really is the designer claiming to have had no assistance in designing the line. The collection was “the dream of a lifetime” she said, adding "I’ve worked at it for 34 years” and “I always wanted to be a fashion designer. Then along came the Spice Girls which opened a lot of doors for me. And, let¹s be honest, closed a lot. But those days are over. I was never going to be the world’s best singer, but I hope I can be a good designer."

All in all, the collection is rather sans éclat and is very much inspired by the established and recognized fashion designers Mrs Beckham has been sporting of late. As a result, and mostly because of a certain homogeneity in shape and silhouettes, one could consider this collection as a signature style rather than the effect of a creative work. Also, the whole look shows an uncanny resemblance to the Roland Mouret creations, whose new label 19RM (see picture on the left) has been recently acquired by Simon Fuller, the Spice Girls manager who is also at the origin of the DVB brand. The Victoria Bekham blue dress seems to be made of the same material as the blue dress of the 19RM pre-fall 2008 collection while the sleeves of the Beckham black number reminds of the Galaxy( see left) dress that made Roland Mouret.

Her dresses are tasteful and rather classy and they even have a timeless accent to them but are not targeting the average woman. If the collection goes until size 14, one would doubt that anybody else than sylph-like women can wear these creations with grace.

The legitimacy of this collection in the fashion world remains questionable. Victoria Beckham dresses are in the upper range in terms of price; the cheapest dress will be retailed at 900€ in chic department stores, the most expensive ones being 1500€. That is the price of a Ready-to-wear Chanel dress yet, Victoria’s collection cannot compare with that of the genius of the Great Karl Lagerfeld. But prices nowadays are mostly an indication of the segmentation one wants to position its brand. It will thus be very interesting to follow the evolution of this seed of a brand and see whether, to the example of its instigator the Beckham branding can evolve towards the upper market. The DVB brand was originally destined to a mass market eager to emulate a footballer and his popstar wife’s lifestyle via cheap products such as perfumes and jeans. Nevertheless, Victoria is now aiming high and the brand already knows a small success among the buyers of great department stores. This being said, it is a great test and the fashion director of Harvey Nichols, Averyl Oates said it in not so many words: "It is sophisticated, easy and commercial" before adding "It will be interesting to see how the brand evolves". So, winning its place in the fashion world is not that fickle it seems and isn’t the proof that in the ever changing world of trends, a brand still won’t get credentials just the time of playing the song “Wannabe".