Victoria Beckham RTW Spring 2024
Victoria Beckham used her years studying ballet as her entree into the simpler spring dressing conversation that’s happening in Paris this season. But not before Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian arrived fashionably late to the show on the blocked Left Bank artery of Rue de l’Université on Friday afternoon.
“I was really looking at the relationship a dancer has to her clothes, from the rehearsal studio to the performance,” Beckham said during a preview.
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The first act was an exploration of jersey — interesting-looking white T-shirts and T-shirt dresses with interior wire shaping suspended necklines, square shoulders and lifted backs, creating the illusion of the straight-arrow posture Beckham has long had herself.
“You can spot a ballet dancer even when you’re traveling on the Tube because of the way she holds herself,” she said. Whether the designs act as gentle posture correctors or torture devices will be revealed in the wearing, but they looked great, as did twisty gray melange jersey gowns, and striped fisherman sweaters with interior wire accenting the collarbones.
Beckham took the stuffing out of tailoring, literally, on blazers with exposed wadding, inside-out seams and intentional creases “celebrating the love of garments that dancers have,” she said, trying to link it to her theme. Other tailored blazers and coats were reduced almost to sheer. One black blazer, in particular, lightweight with white piping details, would be a wardrobe workhorse.
Weekend visits to the British countryside and the antiques stores nearby inspired nostalgic dresses, tops and shorts with bits of lace, embroidery and scallop details that could have been taken from vintage tablecloths and napkins. The great-looking open-back walking boots were another nod to the country.
There was a vintage feel, too, to silk tea dresses with padded bustiers and sexy sheer draped tulle gowns with exposed seaming and spiraling ruffles, which Beckham likened to a grown up version of a tutu.
“I had fun pulling out tutus I hadn’t worn since I was 16 years old,” she said, adding that daughter Harper, who has studied ballet herself, was impressed her mama can still get en pointe.
There was a lot in the collection to like, the more basic pieces mostly. Oftentimes Beckham’s outings feel like they are too chock full of ideas, and with the ballet and the countryside, she had at least two collections here.
But not to worry, the new fragrance line has already generated more than $1.3 million in media value, which is bound to lift the brand en pointe. The three unisex scents are inspired by personal moments from the designer’s past and time spent with her husband, retired soccer player David Beckham. The show space was scented with Suite 302, which “conjures the sumptuous spirit of whirlwind weekends in Paris in Suite 302.” One can only imagine what happened there.
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Launch Gallery: Victoria Beckham RTW Spring 2024
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