There was never a Sexy Spice, but back in the days of the Spice Girls, sexy dressing inherently meant cleavage-boosting bra tops, figure-hugging tube dresses and miniskirts. The world – and Victoria Beckham – have moved on since then, as the pop star-turned-highly-accomplished designer and entrepreneur underlined with her latest collection, shown on Friday evening in the gardens of Paris’s Château de Bagatelle, a former hunting lodge built by Marie-Antoniette’s brother-in-law.
“It really was about our relationship with our skin. We’ve talked a lot in the last few seasons about how we dress ourselves, putting the clothes on. And this time it was about taking the clothes off, lots of skin,” Beckham says backstage after her show.
Her new take on skin-baring adheres to the conceptual, modern and grown-up signatures that Beckham’s label has evolved towards in recent years. Several semi-sheer tops and dresses had been crafted from resin in a process which took seven days to complete. They skimmed over the contours of the body before cascading into diaphanous skirts which floated in the evening air.
A flash of hip and ab came from high-cut bodysuits worn with ultra-low-slung tailored trousers, some of which had slits running down one leg to expose a sliver of thigh. Similarly, some jackets came with one arm cut away at the shoulder. “It’s always about getting that balance between feminine and masculine,” Beckham notes.
The latter part of the show featured some more classically alluring pieces, from sheer bodycon dresses which left little to the imagination to mini dresses contoured to emphasise the curves of the body. “Every single garment, however much we style it and elevate it on this catwalk… is always rooted in reality,” Beckham says. “These clothes are very wearable.”
Beckham recently reported a 52 per cent rise in sales at her label with annual revenues up from £59 million to £89 million. Astonishingly, a single dress shape is credited with much of that success: the £850 “Bella” design which was debuted on the spring/summer 2023 catwalk by Bella Hadid is cut to subtly flatter and enhance the waist and hips. The style was reported to account for one in ten online sales.
A new take on the “Bella” was unveiled by the supermodel’s sister, Gigi Hadid, during Friday night’s show. In a shade not-so-sexily dubbed “algae green”, the “draped tuck detail midi dress” (will it be re-christened the Gigi one day?) is already available to buy at victoriabeckham.com for £990. Its offbeat colour was inspired, along with other hues like olive, mauve and burgundy, by the Jean-Michel Basquiat artworks which hang chez Beckham.
The show coincided with the launch of Beckham’s fourth perfume, 21:50 Rêverie, created to evoke the designer’s “memory of a transformative evening in Java”. With the venue’s twinkling fairy lights and mood-setting soundtrack (featuring Marvin Gaye’s I want you) this almost felt like a reimagining of a holiday date night with the Beckhams.
Notably, Victoria – who celebrated her 50th birthday in April – chose not to take her own new sexy dressing advice, opting for a covered-up black tuxedo suit to take her bow. Yet, she exemplified how you don’t necessarily need skin on show to be sensual.
Husband David was evidently seduced, anyway. After watching from the front row alongside the couple’s sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz and daughter Harper, who was dressed in a slinky pale pink dress, he embraced his wife backstage. “There are no words other than it was gorgeous,” he says. “She gets bigger and better every year, but in the most elegant way.”
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