Its not everyday that the supposed ice queen swoops down from her fashion hide out in LA to grace the streets of London, but lo and behold, little ol' me found herself face to face with none other than Victoria Beckham to discuss everything from the Spice Girls (cringe- though she did offer to sing out of key for me) her two own phenomenally successful fashion lines and her hopes for future talent in the industry.
Having to keep a secret of that scale is no mean feat I tell ya, and it all came about by chance really. For those of you who know, I study at London College of Fashion and it was actually a collaboration between LCF and legendary Fashion Biographer
Colin McDowell who is currently holding a serious of live talks with key players within the industry of which VB was one. LCF were able to offer me and a handful of others a platform to meet and talk to Posh herself.
Arriving fashionably and typically late, to a small central london lecture theatre she cut an uber chic figure dressed in signature form fitting black- a dress of her own (but of course) Victoria Victoria Beckham SS'13.
The discussion between her and Colin McDowell was intimate, revelling and unusually, touching at times. What is so captivating about her isn't the star quality, the immaculate heels or handbags, its how down to earth she is. One of the few people I could sight as a true role model, increasingly so as the conversation progressed onto family, media stereotypes and being given a voice in the industry.
Three things have stuck with me; the drive/desire behind setting up her eponymous label as she shares the beginnings of her line with us. While fielding questions about judgement and preconception within the industry she proved her Louboutin glad feet to be firmly on the ground, describing the debut of her first line in New Yorks Waldorf Hotel and how after worrying about her flower arrangement in the early hours of the morning Hillary Alexander mentioned the attention to detail at the start of her collection review.
Its this attention to detail and desire which has made her label so successful, and whilst acknowledging fame did 'give her a voice' it also came with its preconceptions she had to fight to overcome. A stereotypical comment she has heard time and time again is 'does she
actually design? or just put her name to it?'... This was a topic she clearly felt needed to be address and spoke very openly, as if we, as fellow future fashion industry professionals needed to be reassured of. Its clear by the zeal alone in her voice that these collections are very much
hers. From designs inspired by her achieves of Desginer vintage to a tongue in cheek print which has caught her eye, each fit is overseen (or over-skyped) and tweaked accordingly.
It is the same type of passion which illuminates her eyes when she speaks of her family, some of whom she had with her there (Romeo, warning, future heartbreaker) Mrs Beckham is a family woman through and through, joking of moving to Hong Kong to be with David and how she was late due to feeding Harper and her inability to cook, it seems no subject was off limits and she warmed to the crowd.
The final part of the evening I spent with 9 others exclusively in Victorias company as we got to discuss her business in more depth and she discovered a little about our lives too. Staggering into a private room to the left of the lecture theatre was the first time I have ever been truly starstruck... Not because she is intimating but because I desperately wanted this warm and funny lady to like me. Any fears i had were diffused instantly, first to enter the room, she reached out her arms to me, asking my name and saying it was a pleasure to meet me. We chatted about my work, and aspirations to become a buyer, my blog and how it was part of her collections which were the inspiration for me to return to university.
