Video: VB Spring 2012 Reviews & Interviews

This is a great review video full of interviews with fashion elite after the Victoria Beckham spring 2012 runway presentation on September 11th. There is snippets of an interview with Victoria also!



It looks to me like she is wearing this dress...

V by VB Reviews: Hadley Freeman of The Guardian

"I'm not just that miserable cow, you know," announced Victoria Beckham to a room of somewhat startled fashion editors, all perched primly on white sofas in a large Manhattan loft, as they awaited her latest fashion show. "And here, this dress?" continued Beckham as one model walked out. "It looks like a giant Fabergé egg, doesn't it? And this is our moon print. Which is great."

Even if Beckham doesn't quite talk like a fashion designer of the classical couturier tradition, she is rapidly looking like one.

After a particularly strong show of what must now be referred to as her mainline collection over the weekend, and the debut of her secondary line, Victoria by Victoria Beckham, on Monday afternoon, which was possibly even better, there is no question that the Beckham brand is working in the fashion world.

But if the fashion industry has had to adapt a little to the Beckham modus operandi, and re-adjust their inbuilt cynicism about celebrity designers, Beckham herself is the one who is trying to evolve the most.

Victoria by Victoria Beckham – like Marc by Marc Jacobs and See by Chloe – is intended as an offshoot to the main, more expensive collection.

But lower prices – and to be clear, we're talking relatively low, Beckham-ishly low, with dresses starting at £650 and going up to £1,400 – means a greater reach in clientele which means bigger sizes, more practicality and more appeal for women who don't necessarily look like Victoria Beckham.

Just as her mainline collection for next season showed a marked development and did not seem to be mainly inspired by Beckham's own closet, the Victoria by Victoria Beckham collection was definitely a change from the body-clinging dresses with which most people associate Beckham.

Instead, the emphasis was on loose, crepe, satin, jacquard and something called "summer wool" shifts that barely skimmed the body, some in rich colours such as Kelly green and deep blue, and some spattered with sweet cartoonish prints, a look heretofore verboten in the Beckham wardrobe.

"I'm very into conversational prints this season," Beckham said, wearing one of the cat print dresses herself. ("I want a cat but David won't let me have one – he doesn't want them bringing mice in the house. He's a dog person," she revealed)

Other standout prints included moons and a particularly lovely long-sleeved shift covered in cloud prints.

"Having another cloud print on the back makes it more expensive, but it finishes off the fashion story," the pop star-turned-designer said, with the confidence of one who was suckled at the knee of a couturier.

Picking out a lovely black shift with scalloping around the neckline, she said: "I love this dress, I could wear this one with flats during the day and heels at night." It was a nice try on her part, but her claim to flats-wearing normality was slightly undermined by the fact that she was, at that moment, wearing gigantic stilettos while cuddling her nine-week-daughter, Harper.

The detailing is what really made the dresses stand out – a testament to Beckham's unquestionable love of fashion: zippers were visible, patch pockets sat elegantly on top of the silk, waists were dropped and seams stood out.

One of the last dresses was a simple white one which was downright Jackie O-like. Chic, simple and tasteful.

"And you see the neckline? There's a little V," said Beckham, indicating a tiny dip in the centre. "It's subtle branding." Oh, she's a wily one, that Victoria Beckham.

V by VB Reviews: Nicole Phelps of Style.com

Victoria Beckham was looking out for two babies at Milk Studios' penthouse today: the infant girl on her lap—her fourth child with husband David Beckham—and a great-looking new diffusion collection, which she was debuting to small groups of editors. Only, VB would prefer it if you didn't call it a diffusion line, thank you very much. The clothes are significantly less expensive than those in her signature range—the dresses will retail from $450 to $1,250—and the differences only begin there. Whereas the high-end frocks are all about a sexy, hourglass fit, these shifts have a girlier look and a looser, A-line shape, with hems that hit above the knees, "so you can wear them with heels or flats," Beckham said. Colors are peppy (poppy red, royal blue, candy pink), and prints are what the industry calls "conversational": crescent moons and cats. Yes, cats. By way of explanation, Beckham said the collection was inspired by Emily the Strange, the comic-book heroine for alternative-minded young women the world over.

There's not much countercultural going on with these dresses, but there's no arguing that they're not cute. A very sophisticated kind of cute. The egg-shaped dress in blue and gold jacquard? Beckham called it a Fabergé.

Reviews: WWD

Not everyone has boarded spring’s printed wagon. On Sunday morning, at least one respite from the season’s early visual frenzy looked plenty inviting. Victoria Beckham showed what was, despite protestations that “it’s still a presentation,” her first full show, at the New York Public Library. She didn’t make the move lightly, opting for revved-up styling (Marie-Amélie Sauvé is now on the case) and a spiffy collaboration with Stephen Jones that resulted in crushed engineer caps with a pleasant dash of “It” girl attitude.

Beckham has always been her own sounding board; as such, a personal pragmatism underscores her work. Now mom to daughter Harper as well as three boys, she’s “excited to wear clothes again.” (Nine weeks after giving birth, she looks as slim as ever.) That doesn’t mean she’s into fashion confinement. Though she sent out a few of her curvaceous standards, the news came in easy lines with a modicum of Mod, the mood rendered via structured shapes and fabrics, colorblocking and, once or twice, a naughty sheer inset at the hips where a belt might otherwise go. When she went softer, it was with pleated crepe skirts attached externally to techno-stretch bodices. Along the way, Beckham’s mostly discreet palette — black, navy, white — got injections of vibrant orange.

She amped up her outerwear, shown in gorgeous iridescent pales of lilac, blue and gray. Here, she crossed what she called couture volumes with the hoods, drawstring and tapes of the athletic vernacular. Worn over crisp, short dresses, these pulsed with a distinct sportswear vibe. Asked if that category is next on the agenda, Beckham was noncommittal, but don’t be surprised.

Reviews: Nicole Phelps of Style.com

A bell gonged as guests shuffled around before Victoria Beckham's show, and the crowd hushed to observe a moment of silence in honor of the September 11 victims. Fashion marches relentlessly on. VB was still Posh Spice ten years ago; her rapidly expanding clothing and accessory brand not yet in its infancy. Today was her first full-scale runway show, but she's hardly a beginner.

Beckham wasted no time establishing her signature: hourglass dresses as rigorously constructed on the inside as they are streamlined on the outside. Season by season, in perfectionist fashion, she's added new elements: volume, print, embroideries, a bag range, and now, for Spring, a timely new interest in utility and sport.

The stretchy hourglass dresses are still here, still ridiculously sexy, but now they have sturdy, buff-gray nylon straps and D-rings—even the long, evening version. Joining them on the catwalk at the New York Public Library were short, easy shifts, some inset with a horizontal stripe of sheer mesh, worn with what had to be VB's first-ever flat sandal. Has having her fourth baby inspired this more practical bent? Could be: Outerwear, though cut in double-faced satin, was on the boxy side with sporty rolled sleeves and hoods. And soft shoulder bags and oversize totes are now in the mix alongside her signature constructed frame bags.

But what's life without a little glamour? The wide bands of navy and safety orange on a clingy sheath prove you can still depend on Beckham for exactly that.
source: Style

Fashion Foie Gras Attends the VB Press Day

One of my favorite sites, Fashion Foie Gras, attended the Victoria Beckham press day in London last week. There, the attendees viewed the designs for fall 2011 - dresses, denim, handbags, and eyewear. From the site's photos, there was tons to view.. including designs that weren't showcase in the runway presentation as well as brand new items included in the handbag collection (hello gorgeous iPad case!).

Click here to see their fabulous photos and read their review.

source: Fashion Foie Gras

Reviews: Beckham's Fashion Risks Pay Off

Victorian Beckham says, five seasons into her fashion brand, that she’s a more confident designer and a more confident person, and that allows her to take risks beyond the structured cocktail dresses that gave her cred with a famously finicky industry.

For her recent morning New York Fashion Week presentation, she wore one of the loose, cashmere cocoon dresses that she said she found intimidating when she was more of a novice.

The swing trapeze dress and a multimetallic honeycomb in a kaftan-like silhouette were also items she added to the collection with a surer hand.

These roomier designs take more work, but they are worth it so women can be fashionable, as well as comfortable, explained Beckham, her hair pulled into a long ponytail.

(She announced last month that she and husband David Beckham are expecting their fourth child.)

“I designed this collection before I knew I was pregnant,” she said with a laugh to the small crowd of editors, retailers and stylists gathered at her favourite Upper East Side mansion runway venue that allows her to individually greet guests.

A red V-neck tunic dress looked the simplest, she said, but “it was a nightmare”.

Using a palette she described as “desert brights”, Beckham offered a teal matte gazar V-neck cocoon that she said was “young red carpet”, but the finale gown in the same colour and fabric was the one to talk about: it had chiffon-covered resin bits arranged in a mosaic pattern that looked like shards of shattered glass around the neckline.

For the first time, Beckham offered coats, including a red raglan-sleeve coat with a buckle at the collar and a super-chic black coat with knife pleats from hip to hem.

She did several dresses with pleats, too, a look she always wanted to wear but couldn’t figure out how to until she started placing them below the hip bone.

The best versions were a saffron-yellow crêpe dress with a halter-neck and the honeycomb gown, also with a halter-neck, that had restrained pleats at the top and fuller ones on the skirt. That look, she said, was her favourite.

Beckham has numbered in order each style she makes. The autumn collection includes look No. 100, which has the more fitted shape with exposed seams and zippers that are her hallmark but adds the wrap shape that she built this season around.

“The 100th dress is a Victoria Beckham silhouette chosen as the perfect representation of everything the collection set out to achieve at the outset,” she said in her notes.
source: SAMANTHA CRITCHELL

Reviews: Style.com by Nicole Phelps

Victoria Beckham is pregnant with her fourth child, but she says she finished her Fall collection before she found out. The fact that she loosened up her silhouette more than ever before, and pushed the draping, is merely sweet synchronicity. Mixed in among her signature body-loving hourglass dresses (this season in bright shades of saffron, magenta, and vermilion, and featuring curving seams that shape the torso) were a pair of blouson minidresses, one in an iridescent honeycomb jacquard and another in a kingfisher blue matte gazar. Their cocooning shapes will be a boon as her baby bump grows. Continuing in the relaxed vein, she showed a few outfits that looked like draped cashmere shawls belted over fitted pencil skirts. But it was an illusion: They were in fact trompe l'oeil dresses, and great-looking too.

Also new for Fall were coats. But whereas elsewhere she was thinking loose and liberating, here she was all rigor and precision. The toppers were cut in structured wool, and their stand-up buckled collars notwithstanding, they were the opposite of tricked-out. Amid all the utilitarian parkas we'll be seeing on selling floors come fall, they'll look practically stately. That's fine with Beckham, for whom the classics have always trumped the trends.

What will she do for an encore next season? Pantsuits, maybe? After this first shot at tailoring, they seem like the next logical step for a designer who, ironically, given her celebrity status, pays closer attention to her clients' real-life needs than many of her peers. It's an approach that continues to pay dividends.
source: Style

Reviews: Grazia Daily by Paula Reed

'I designed this collection before I got pregnant, so this was the only dress I could wear,’ Victoria Beckham told us before taking a front row seat to talk us through her AW2011 collection. The dress was a grey and beige cocoon tunic in babyfine cashmere. The venue was the grand Upper East side townhouse that was the location of Big and Carrie’s dream apartment in Sex & The City and has been fashion week home to the Victoria Beckham collection for the past three seasons.

And on this, her sixth season in business, Mrs Beckham is getting better and better. What started as a capsule collection of dresses that looked like her personal wardrobe, has expanded into something more fully formed. ‘I’ve eased up the corsetry a lot,’ she explained.’ I’ve travelled and loosened up in my own skin. I feel I have evolved as a person and this has evolved as a collection.’

The dresses all start with a very neat shoulder (sans pads, but cut sharply and close to the natural line). And for lovers of the second skin column there are still lots to choose form in the dense jersey rib (‘women love how it holds them in’) that she has made her signature fabric, like her 100th dress with seams circling the body. ‘I started numbering the dresses six seasons ago back when I started and never thought I’d get to this point.’

But more interesting were the easier shapes cut with gentle volume and movement: a cerise swing dress cut above the knee in four meters of heavy wool crepe. A kingfisher blue dress knee length cocoon dress cut in silk gazar. Or the floor length pleated dress with soft draped neckline. 'I love pleats but never knew how to wear them,’ she explained of a dress in saffron wool with drop waist and knife pleated skirt. ‘The pleats were ironed in by hand in the studio.’ She called the colours of ochre, saffron, brick and scarlet, her ‘desert brights’.

She ‘decided to have a go at coats’ for the first time: a simple shape with vertical seams and stand up collar or a drop waisted pleated option were perfect companion pieces for those slim dresses and ladylike bags. The bag collection has expanded to include over the body cashmere duffles and a collaboration with Christian Louboutin has provided some pretty fabulous straight knee high boots.

With Anna Wintour on her front row and a room full of fashion A-listers, Victoria Beckham has become a fully fledged fixture of the NY collections.

Reviews: WWD

Some compliments have the ring of insult: “You look amazing in this picture; I can barely tell it’s you.” At some point it’s going to sound insulting to note that designer Victoria Beckham, she of the second career, is “the real deal.” But a mere six seasons into this fashion thing, she still wows with the success of her crossover. Beckham continued her impressive evolution for fall, on Sunday morning showing a lineup that highlighted her increasing sense of ease. Thus she favored “desert brights” and a continued relaxation of silhouette. Beckham flaunted both right from the start, with two magenta dresses, one a linear, below-the-knee “nomad dress” with long sleeves and hood-cum-cowl; the other, a short, swingy trapeze. She also showed a terrific take on the shirtdress (from the front it looked like separates) and a charming cashmere sack like the one she wore to disguise her pregnancy.

Beckham talked about growing in confidence as a woman and as a designer, while at the same time noting the importance of giving her customers what they’ve come to expect. Thus, along with her loosened looks, were new takes on her back-zipped curvy numbers with “traveling seams,” including a version in her best-selling dense rib jersey.

Beckham is answering her customers’ needs in another way as well, with the addition of outerwear, though she’s not falling in with the season’s emerging anorak army. Rather, she took a polished chic approach to chasing the chill, as with a lovely long sand wool coat with belt-buckle collar.
source: WWD

Reviews: Sit Back and Enjoy

Sunday, I had the good fortune of being invited to the very private presentation by Victoria Beckham. Maybe it seems crazy, but I’d been dreaming about this for a long time now. Ever since I’ve seen them at the Printemps in Paris, I’ve loved her dresses.
And I’d also heard just how irresistible her New York presentations are.

So this is what went down:

It was all in a very posh building on the Upper East Side. After I pushed through the heavy door, I made my way into a small room where soft stools were set up. Victoria Beckham was there, brilliant in a sublime black dress, smiling, warm, a perfect hostess, shaking hands with everyone and repeating their names to try to remember each one. We sat wherever we liked; there couldn’t have been more than 20 of us.

I didn’t want to disturb the hushed atmosphere. I asked the press people if I could take photos and they responded very nicely, “Why don’t you just sit down and enjoy?” I told myself that yeah, for once, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if I took a look at some clothes without having my lens between me and them….

And plus it’d be a good chance to draw.

Victoria had a seat right in the middle on one of the stools. Everyone got quiet, a model came out into the room and Victoria started talking in a soft yet cheerful voice.

” I’m going to show you my new collection. For this season, I wanted to concentrate on the sensuality of the feminine body. You’ll see that I used different materials… Starting from this cloth from a parachute, which inspired me to…”

I’ve never seen anything like it. One by one, she described her dresses. When she could, she’d add in a touch of humor, or a small gesture to show the movement of a fabric… Everyone was clinging to her every word.

Calm and relaxed, the models passed by, ethereal.

Amidst the craziness of fashion week, a moment of pure luxury, without the flash of cameras, the commotion of the crowd, without the yelling… Wow.

The same day, I wasn’t invited to Tom Ford’s very private cocktail party. He selected a very small group of editor-in-chiefs and celebrities to give a preview of their much awaited women’s line, and the internet media wasn’t exaclty welcome. It was very nicely requested not to take photos.

Here’s what someone told me:

Tom Ford took his place, and presented his models, one after the other. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you my womens collection…”

Amidst the craziness of fashion week, a moment of pure luxury, without the flash of cameras, except for Terry Richardson’s, the only photographer at the cocktail party… And we should see those pictures sometime before January, when Tom Ford decides it’s time.

I thought it was all interesting considering the questions that I brought up yesterday about the hysteria and immediacy of fashion, that these two showmen, Victoria Beckham and Tom Ford, both chose such different paths to create desire.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

*A huge thanks to Marco for sending this over to me!

Reviews: Graiza Daily's NYFW S/S '11 report: VICTORIA BECKHAM

On a chilly and overcast Sunday morning, Victoria Beckham unveiled her latest exquisite collection of dresses in the sedate surroundings of an uptown Manhattan salon before an intimate gathering of editors.

It was such a serene and sophisticated way to start the day before the hustle and bustle of the Lincoln Center show tents, and despite the gloomy weather, the mood inside was warm and welcoming as Victoria took the time to greet everyone individually as they took their seats. I couldn't help but wish that all fashion presentations could be like this.

There were, of course, a selection of classic VB form fitting jersey and crepe shift dresses in the mix. But we were also introduced to a number of gorgeous new shapes, silhouettes and fabrications.

Soft, fluid draping for day and evening came in vibrant, neutral and black parachute silks; bell and trumpet shaped cocktail and red carpet gowns were fashioned out of a more structured cotton waffle or an iridescent jacquard in shades of Opal and Carbon; whilst a tunic and a backless floorlength gown shimmered in a silvery teal georgette.

The opportunity was also seized to introduce us to her new range of bags and eyewear which were used sparingly throughout to accessorize the tightly edited collection. Economically shaped - and no doubt, astronomically priced - totes and travel bags in neutral hues of crocodile, buffalo and calf skin are sure to become some of the must-haves of the season.

And every look was completed with a pair of towering metallic rose gold stilettos specially designed by Brian Atwood and apparently inspired by Victoria's "favourite new Rolex".

Ok, Mrs. Beckham isn't exactly reinventing the wheel here. But these dresses really are beautifully crafted and designed with a real passion for simplicity and sophistication...

And who needs to reinvent the wheel anyway, when it is already a perfect fusion of form and function?

This collection truly was just that.
source: Grazia

More Rave Reviews

The Victoria Beckham spring 2011 collection is getting tons and tons of outstanding reviews and since I would love to post all of them, but I unfortunately can't, I've posted the links to several so you can read which ever ones you like...

• The purple dress that opened the show was featured on Monday's cover of WWD! Click here to read their wonderful review.


• NBC has a great review with an added bonus - footage of the finale! Click here!


• "Victoria Beckham, who has gone from the status of a mere celebrity to the one of a serious designer, proves that lack of special training does not always mean the impossibility of creating something brilliant," from Million Looks


• "Victoria Beckham's new collection celebrated the womanly physique," at Telegraph.co.uk


• "Victoria Beckham has conquered the concrete jungle of New York City, at least, one aspect of the big apple: fashion," at IB Times


• Fug Girls: Victoria Beckham Is Fashion’s Hostess With the Mostess - from NY Magazine

Congratulations Victoria on yet another successful collection!

Reviews: The UK's DailyMail

She may be finally establishing herself as a bona fide fashion designer. But Victoria Beckham still had an attack of stage fright before unveiling her latest collection at New York Fashion Week.

Moments before the models were about to walk down the catwalk, Mrs Beckham posted a message on her Twitter account which read: 'About to go!!!! Excited!!! Nervous!!!!'

In hindsight, she need not have worried - the collection was well received and marked another milestone in her ambition to be seen as not just a celebrity, but a serious designer too.

As she eases into her career - relaxing now the fashion world is still taking her seriously five seasons on - her new spring/summer collection is further proof Victoria is growing in confidence and cementing her status as a respected designer. Victoria, who has no formal fashion training, is rather accomplished at moving her designs forward while remaining true to her very first show: the structured simplicity of a VB dress is ironically what makes it stand out.

Victoria takes the unusual step of personally narrating her show on the chic set designed by Kelly Hoppen, and with each explanation of a boned bodice or bias cut, her credibility shoots up.

The collection itself, the usual neutral palette dotted with brights - splashes of purple and yellow - is sure to be a massive hit among her growing legion of fans. For her first piece, a purple short dress, Victoria said she took a metre and a half of bright parachute silk and draped it around herself, experimenting until she perfected the knot-waist dress that was to open her show.

She is particularly proud of a white matte gazar gown with sculptural pleated shoulders and a waistband adorned with linked microbeads as she claimed she 'pushed herself with the dress', vowing to wear it to her next big event. Amid a sea of monochrome and metallics, she paid tribute to the Sixties - another nod to Mad Men hysteria sweeping the industry.

But loyal customers will also be relieved the classic shift and the elegant evening gown are still staple pieces. This time, she has also branched out into structured handbags for the fifth collection held at an elegant mansion off Fifth Avenue to a small, select group of editors, retailers and stylists.

Regardless of what the critics have to say - although Victoria (the designer) has always been well received in the press - she certainly knows how to make a dress wearable. And she has the following to prove it: From Jennifer Lopez to Carol Vorderman, Victoria has proved that although she may look pencil-thin, her clients need not. To send the message across, the brunette even banned size zero models from the show.

The Spice Girl, who has chosen to continue presenting her collection during New York fashion week rather than London said: 'I love New York, and I live in America now; this is my home, Well, this is closest to my home.' And in case anyone thought her new job has resulted in the fashionista neglecting her family, Victoria even used footballer husband David as a source of inspiration. She said: 'I had to put something in David could use. You can take this on the plane and throw your tracksuit in there - it really does fit everything.'

Of course, there's a Victoria bag, too - polished and square - much like the designer herself.
Victoria, although dressed in her uniform of short black dress and stiletto heels (Brian Atwood this time, also worn by the models) certainly appears more at ease.

Gone is her gamine crop, replaced with long waves and a soft expression - she even managed a smile. And judging by the show's success, she has a lot to be happy about.
source: DailyMail

Reviews: Nicole Phelps of Style.com

Only one dress out of the 26 Victoria Beckham showed today featured a corset. That's groundbreaking news for a glamour puss who looks so pulled together in paparazzi snapshots you'd swear she wears a waist cincher to the gym. But as Beckham said while narrating the collection, her own style has loosened up quite a bit, and it showed in the clothes. She opened with a draped parachute silk dress in ultraviolet knotted at the torso, and included a few more variations of the theme, including a striking gown in black with jet embroidery at the shoulder. Kudos for expanding the range, though the irony is a weightless fabric like parachute silk hides nothing; as easy as the new silhouettes are, they require a flawless body.

Hollywood is full of those, of course, but Beckham's fans—even those with last names like Diaz, Lopez, and Moore—will probably gravitate toward the curving seams of the hourglass dresses she's best known for. Hard not to like the way they reliably hold everything in place. Among the best examples today: a shoulder-baring iridescent jacquard with ribbon straps and a Cadillac pink double crepe with an asymmetric neckline and a contrasting zipper in back. At the designer's request, Brian Atwood made the show's rose gold platform pumps to match her new Rolex. As for the new Victoria Beckham bags, they featured luxe materials and classically ladylike shapes, as befits a lady who knows her way around a Birkin.
source: Style.com