Victoria Beckham / Fall 2012 RTW

So, Mommy’s in the kitchen in L.A., and one of her boys runs in from baseball practice, and she looks at the collar and the stripes on his shirt, and his socks, and she thinks: “I’ll put that in my next collection!” Score, Brooklyn Beckham! Victoria Beckham, to put it mildly, is a female designer with quite a few sporting influences in her house. What with her three sons and a soccer hero for a husband at home, there have to be a lot of uniforms making their way through her laundry room. Not that the Beckham fashion fixture held at the New York Public Library on Sunday morning read as a literal sport collection in the slightest. There’s nothing one iota of casual about her superfitted multipaneled sheaths, her shirtdresses with flat, turned-down collars, or the band-box smart military-influenced coats—except, maybe, the ribbed socks poking out of the chunky-heeled Christian Louboutin ankle boots. But then again, Mrs. Beckham is a polished lady, and the clothes are truly about her, and her life. “There isn’t one thing in the collection I wouldn’t wear myself. I want to wear everything!” she exclaimed afterward. A proper, perfectionist job she’s making of it, too.

It’s always good to see a collection with an authentic, personal integrity about it. Victoria Beckham has schooled herself in the skills of cutting and fitting from scratch—and with the help of a top-notch team assembled in London. The way contrasting horizontal bands were set into dresses, dissecting the body at flattering points, was faultlessly done, and her control of the use of luxury signals, like the shiny python on a shirt-collar or in the lining of a khaki coat, is well-judged—there but not ostentatious. All this is being discreetly accomplished under the superdiscreet management of Simon Fuller of XIX Entertainment, who was at the show. Also in the front row, for the first time, was her husband David, taking pictures. “I don’t think he realized I have a proper job till now,” she joked backstage, as David juggled the new addition to team Beckham, baby Harper Seven.

In her insistence on developing slowly, and gradually earning respect, Mrs. Beckham has scarcely put a platformed-foot wrong. Still, now that the fashion world is showing her acceptance—she won the Designer Brand Award at the British Fashion Awards in 2011—perhaps she should dare advance her case further. Seeing a few evening looks would have been nice to round things off. But kudos to her: She has well-made clothes, and a strong identity already. Besides eagerly studying the properties of luxury fabrics, the even more fundamental lesson she’s taken to heart is the kind of advice always given to aspiring authors: “Write what you know about.” Victoria Beckham designs what she knows about—and only from that starting point can a coherent brand begin.

Photos: Marcio Madeira/firstVIEW
Source: www.vogue.com