The Mirror Fashion Director’s verdict on Victoria Beckham’s 2012 Spring/Summer Collection.
If ever there was time to stop referring to Victoria Beckham as pop star ‘turned’ fashion designer it’s round about now.
Having just shown her spring/summer 2012 ready to wear collection at New York Fashion Week there’s no doubt that the fashion thing is more than just a flight of fancy.
Just two months after giving birth to baby Harper Seven, Victoria’s latest collection has received high acclaim from the fashion pack and her evolving label has established itself as one to watch on the New York fashion schedule.
With an urban edge and techno stretch fabrics that we haven’t seen before her dresses still featured her trademark calf and midi lengths and clever play on proportion.
Stand out pieces were the over-sized silk gazaar or silk satin parka and bomber jackets which worked well teamed with jersey body conscious dresses.
Grosgrain webbed straps gave the collection a modern sporty feel that’s sure to strike a chord with her growing celebrity following and her fans when the collection goes on sale next summer.
Victoria left her baby daughter outside because she worried that the catwalk show would be too loud for her. But something tells us it won’t be long before we see her in the front row.
Victoria Beckham's collection.
Inspired by birth of her daughter Harper, she shifts focus to include sportier looks alongside her classic dress designs.
The timing of Victoria Beckham’s catwalk show at New York fashion week on Sunday was undeniably awkward. The scheduled start of 10am allocated to Beckham by the organisers saw her Spring 2012 collection take to the catwalk while Barack Obama was leading the nation in remembrance at the World Trade Centre site.
However, the potential for upset was elegantly avoided. Attendees were instructed to arrive early, so that the silences at 9.59am and 10.03am could be properly respected.
The show marked a gear change for Beckham’s feted second career as a designer. Figure-flattering, modern-ladylike, cleverly constructed dresses have been the heart of her brand since her first collection, and were still there – but the focus was pulled back to include a wider range of looks: oversized parka-style jackets, looser pieces, and utility detailing.
The staging of the show also reflected a move away from the tight focus on a singular look. Previously, Beckham had staged small-scale presentations of her collections, which she talked through in person. Her shows were held first in a hotel room, then in recent seasons in a private townhouse. This show was in the New York public library and soundtracked by loud music, and marked a leap in scale which seemed to display a new confidence.
The change in direction may also be designed to cede some space in the limelight to Beckham’s new lower-priced line, Victoria by Victoria Beckham, which she will launch on Monday. The few pieces that have so far been seen from the Victoria line have had a “cocktail dress” look.
Stretch fabrics, exposed zips, flat shoes and high-energy navy-and-orange colour combinations suggested Beckham had finally succumbed to the appeal of the sporty Californian lifestyle. When she arrived in LA, she was teased for wearing high heels to throw the first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game – to which she replied: “I hate working out. Maybe it’s the whole getting sweaty thing, but it’s just not me.”
Yesterday she described her working method as “like juggling glass balls” and said the arrival of baby daughter Harper two months ago was a blessing in disguise for the collection, “because it made us very focused, and that influenced the collection”.