Victoria Beckham made her first appearance at New York fashion week a decade ago as a novelty act, but she leaves as a headline one.
Her Sunday morning catwalk show was her last before she joins London fashion week in September. That it is seen as a significant blow for New York fashion week is testament to a remarkable success.
“It feels like the right way to round off showing in New York,” Beckham said of the new location for the show, which moved this season from the cavernous Cunard building in the financial district to two Upper East Side drawing rooms. “It’s more intimate, like my first shows were. I wanted this to be a nice thing to do on a Sunday morning. I want people to enjoy coming to my shows.”
The “intimate” venue was, in fact, a sumptuous Renaissance-style mansion that was one of the largest private houses in Manhattan when it was built in 1918 by the architects of Grand Central Station. David Beckham and the couple’s three youngest children kept Anna Wintour company in the front row.
The magic trick on which the Victoria Beckham brand is based is a sleight of hand. On the one is her relatable persona as a working mother of four, and on the other her aspirational level of polish and glamour. It is a compelling balancing act, and one which has made her a significant player in the luxury industry.
Her success is yet to translate into profit. Despite sales of £36m last year, the brand posted a loss of £8.4m, but the company plays a long game, shoring up the prestige of a name that is not as yet accessible to mass market consumers. A forthcoming collaboration with Reebok may signal a shift in strategy.
While many fashion shows divide between the head-scratchingly avant-garde and the eye-rollingly predictable, Beckham navigates a course somewhere in between. As fashion has shifted from bodycon dresses to a looser silhouette over the last decade she has kept pace with the change of aesthetic, while staying within the guard rails of what is feminine and flattering.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
