Big Thx to our dear friend Vitalina who translated Victoria´s Vogue Russia Article to our site!

Victoria Beckham is launching a collection of cocktail dresses. The editor of British Vogue Harriet Quick went to the first viewing of the collection in NYC.

Photo: Sølve Sundsbø
Style: Katie Grand

Ready, steady, go! Ears are blocked, your heart is somewhere in your feet. Several seconds, and we are on the 70th floor of Waldorf Towers Hotel in Manhattan. Floral ornaments of the carpet and aroma of Diptyque candels lead us to the sitting room of palatial suite with armchairs and golden lamps.

Shinning in the rays of descending sun, Victoria Beckham is smiling: *Thank you for coming. I am very happy to see you*. Sitting on the edge of an armchair, she is showing a carry-a-bunch-of-books-on-your-head posture.

We are here to be the first ones to see her new cocktail dresses from the collection named Victoria Beckham, which will be launched in the spring of 2009. Unlike her colleagues Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez, Victoria was not chasing the cheapness: the price range of her dresses is from 1400$ to 3500$, like those by Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, Givenchy and Balenciaga, and the dresses will be sold in London’s Selfridges, Bergdorf & Goodman in NYC and in Moscow’s Central department store (CUM) . 15 dresses collection will be a limited release of 400 items.

*One should treat a purchase of the dress that can be worn from year to year as advantageous investment* - says Beckham. *Women will look sexy and conventional in my dresses. That’s why I have paid so much attention to the details: seams, clasps, corsetted dresses and wide waist bands*.

Having suffered like any other girl from broken zippers, uncomfortable corsets and falling down bustier, Beckham decided to prove that you don’t have to pay too high of a price for the beauty, and she approached the design of her dress very responsibly.

Models are demonstrating new dresses by Victoria. Long shirt dress embroidered with georgette is followed by short-sleeved dress from gazara, then jacket-dress from basket weave with silk patches and a small back woolen dress.

Beckham herself has a piece from her new collection on: a shirt with a turndown collar is connected with knee-length pencil-skirt by a long corset. Below that – black pumps by Christian Louboutin. In this outfit, Victoria’s boyish figure takes on a very elegant look, that is enhanced by her short hair cut and head ribbon. Asymmetrical posh-pob is in the past. We can see a new millennium Audrey Hepburn in front of us. She easily jumps from high-society jokes to discussions about materials and clothes, that are more common for a tailor rather than a lionne:

*I like taffeta. It brings on an image of an evening dress, but combination with silk crepe makes it lighter. It feels nice to the touch and taffeta is a good display for light plays*.

Victoria says that she is always being followed by paparazzi. It drove her crazy at first, but then she learnt to benefit from this: by looking at the numerous pictures, she was able to create a perfect look for herself. It saw the end of mini-skirts, no more baring of the stomach, low necks and other cheap things; she started to buy womanly snug dresses by Giambattista Valli and Roland Mouret.

*Underwear of 40-s and 50-s influence the style of my collection, but the main resource of the imagination was I myself. I wore all dresses, got accustomed to them to see if they were lacking anything. In the end, these are the dresses that every woman would want to wear*.

One month later, we meet Victoria again, in London. It happens in Simon Fuller’s office. He used to be the Spice Girls manager, but is now in charge of brand Victoria Beckham. A former warehouse in the new-fashioned district Battersy is crowded with models and newbie-singers, MTV and Sky news have occupied the TVs, the floor is littered with the latest issues of The Sun, Hello! and OK! (Apparently, all serious periodic has already been taken). After a night flight from LA, Victoria is not in her best of forms. She has a black T-shirt and a pair of battered boot-cut jeans from dVb brand (Victoria started her own line of jeans, sunglasses and perfumes 2 years ago).

*I have not slept at all on the plane* - signs Victoria, cradling a cup of mint tea. *Usually, I have no trouble falling asleep, having 3 young boys. I fall asleep as soon as I get a minute to spare. But it didn’t happen this time*.

Her British accent is more pronounced here than in NYC, for some reason. She is tired and we decide to put a bold question forward:
*Tell us! How long did it take you to learn your taffeta and corsets speech by heart, for New York presentation?*

*What? Forget it! I am not a good actress. Haven’t you watched Spice World, the movie? What you saw in NYC is a real me, but a new one. When I was singing with the Spice Girls and being a footballer’s wife, I got used to listening to all kind of rubbish being said about me, but even English journalists, the most baneful in the world, mentioned the high quality of my collection* - says Victoria, settling down on a couch with her legs tucked under her.

We talk about her dVb jeans and sunglasses, about the shooting for this issue of Vogue.

*I made my entrance into the world of fashion from a back door* - says Victoria. *I tried to customize my uniform at school: wore lowered socks in 2 layers and tried to make a hem of my skirt longer*.
We should mention that the majority of English schoolgirls do the opposite: they make the skirts and ties shorter.

*I have never followed a general flow; I tried to emphasize my figure’s advantages I had a Gucci paper bag instead of a school-bag, and had my books and notes in it until the bottom fell off.*

By the way, paper bags. Do you remember the pictures taken by the German photographer Juergen Teller for Marc Jacobs advertisement Victoria did for the collection of spring-summer 2008? Style icon and fashion victim, funny and brilliant in her shopogolizm, Victoria was lying inside a huge paper bag with MJ logo on it. The audience loved it.

*It’s great that Mark asked me to do it. By the way, he got in touch with me just yesterday and said that he had heard about my collection. *I am proud of you. There is some passion about what you are doing* - that’s what he said*.

We are saying goodbyes. Victoria informs us that we can see her in Emporio Armani Underwear ad campaign in the spring, but for now, she has plans to have lunch with her husband in J.Seeky restaurant, and after that, she will start looking for a house in Milan. This spring, when American Soccer League is on vacation, LA Galaxy player David Beckham is playing for Milan.

*Milan?* - we are asking, but of course! Where else would a recognized designer live, if not in Milan?