Mon 13th February
Bit like an audience with the queen, this. Do I bow? Curtsey? Blurt out that I watched Spice Girls: One Hour Of Girl Power so much that I wore out the VHS and then cried for three days? No, Jack, ask her about the show. Which is not a hard proposition – the collection was, to put it frankly, bloody lovely. Victoria is currently surrounded by a mob of fabulous sorts. Some ask questions, some just want a picture. Including a queue of excited looking models. Which means that we get to see the process of a VB Instagram. Gagged. “Full length, I look better in full length!” she says, whilst serving face to the camera possibly better than the real life model who stands next to her. We watched, we learned. And then, it was our turn – with VB pulled out of the scrum for a few quiet minutes with Ten.
JACK MOSS: It’s chaos back here! Do mind this all these questions?
VICTORIA BECKHAM: Do you know what? I’d talk about this all day because I genuinely love what I do. I’m very proud of this collection. So much goes on and when it all comes together there’s this sense huge sense of relief. I’m proud of my team and what we have achieved, because there’s a lot of collections now, a lot to pull together. And I love the clothes! Yeah – I’m really happy. I’m really satisfied with how it went.
JM: The collection look brill. How did it all come about? The notes talk about strong women…
VB: I’ve talked about empowering women for so many years – I wish there was another way of saying that so that I don’t sound like I’m repeating myself! But never has there been a time when its more relevant to do so. But it’s important to me to get the balance – the strength of all the tailoring and then the femininity of the georgette and organza skirts underneath. And how the two work together. I’ve never worn skirts and tailored jackets – and that’s what interests me. I think it looks great and I want to wear it!
JM: There was something quite British about it, too. Reminded me a bit of wearing a blazer over a school uniform…
VB: Yeah, there’s a British feel when you look at the heritage fabrics we used. I guess it was me, looking at my own heritage. But also bearing in mind that I have a global customer, so it’s about getting the balance between the two. I actually went to the Paul Nash exhibition at Tate Britain and I think that you can see that influence in the collection – the prints, the colours. The colours have a sort of gentleman’s club feel – whether it’s the oxblood or the navy or the grey.
JM: Hair, music, make-up – how does it all come together?
VB: Well, the collaboration with Estée Lauder has been an amazing success. What I love now is that I can complete the look…
JM: And it’s all yours! Even the face.
VB: Yes! We started out just with dresses and now we have knit, we have tailoring, we have boots, we have shoes, we have bags! And how great that I can finish off my woman with make-up. And with that it was really about the models having really beautiful fresh skin. Some had a bit of grey around their eyes – that was the more fashion look, part of my Estée Lauder city collection.
JM: Do you have a post-show ritual? How are you going to celebrate?
VB: My family is here so we’ll go for lunch and then I go back to the pre-production space we’ve been locked in and we have to edit the sales collection, the accessories. People are often quite surprised – they think now it’s just time to relax! But there’s loads to do to hand over the collection to the sales team.
JM: Just one more question: obviously at Ten Towers we are obsessed with seeing what you’re going to wear for your bow. How do you pick? It’s always iconic.
VB: (Laughs) You know, I don’t actually get that much time to think about it – it’s always so crazy. It’s about being comfortable, I guess. I always like to pick something from the show. I’m loving these loose-fitting pants at the moment, and just a really nice jumper because it is, as you know, very cold in New York at the moment.
JM: And raining…
VB: Oh God, is it raining as well now!
JM: Yes! Well, Victoria thanks so much for your time.
VB: Of course! Send my love to Sophia!
Photograph courtesy of @victoriabeckham
