It's Victoria Beckham's 41st Birthday! Some Reasons Why We Love Her (& Her Best All-Time Looks)

Today, Victoria Beckham turns 41. Beckham, now an accomplished business-woman with an exquisite line of clothes, first made her way into our hearts via the Spice Girls. Back then, she answered to Posh Spice, and the road from “teeny bopper” popstar to solo fashion success was a long and arduous one.

Any sort of celebrity who attempts to launch a fashion line, a serious fashion line, is generally met with contempt by the industry at large. Just look at how long it’s taken Kanye West to even begin to earn the industry’s respect—and he’s still not entirely there. (And West is a respected, influential, and very serious musician who probably wouldn’t like being compared to a Spice Girl.)

And so it seems that our dear Beckham has accomplished what even West has not been able to: Through sheer perseverance, she has completely reinvented herself, and managed to have the world at large believe in her reinvention enough to find a second life. Not only is her line successful, but it’s actually covetable and filled with that high-brow vibe of sumptuous fabrics and minimalist cuts that make fashion editors weak at the knees.

It might seem crazy to some, but even back during her Spice Girls days, Beckham (who was then Victoria Adams), was always on a higher sartorial level than her cohorts. While Mel B enjoyed leopard everything, and Geri Halliwell was off in some sort of Union Jack romper, Beckham could always be counted on to be wearing a little black dress, or maybe even a suit. In the largely underrated but totally brilliant Spice World, where the girls often poke fun at their perceived stereotypes, Beckham’s iconic scene revolves around a “ little Gucci Dress.” And who was at the helm of Gucci back in 1997? Well, none other than Tom Ford, whose late ‘90s collections are still lauded as some of the most creative and influential. The girl knew her fashion.

And while the other Spice Girls were better known – for their voices (or lack thereof), or for pinching Prince Charles’ bottom – Beckham was always sort of in the background, slightly bored, and just a little too cool for the shenanigans the rest of the girls were getting into. Her low-register voice made her seem even more detached, and she only sings on a few songs. No one would’ve expected her to be the breakout star of the group. Perhaps no one expected anything from her in general.

Her foray into fashion was not surprising, in the early 2000′s everyone and their mother (literally, remember House of Dereon?), had a fashion line. And when she decided to show during New York Fashion Week in 2008, she was not met with a warm welcome. Fashion editors reportedly laughed and snickered as Beckham narrated her Fall 2011 collection the way designers did during couture presentations in the 1950′s. by 2014, however, she’d won “Brand of the Year” at the British Fashion Awards.

Still, Beckham’s success remains wholly underrated. But just as well, those of us that have been following her and her career since we were teenagers, playing dress-up in front of the mirror and singing along her songs, know that in the pantheon of amazing women who have reached success through complete will power and an unabashed belief in themselves, Beckham has a place of honor. What’s more, she’s done it with the best sense of humor (have you ever seen her reality TV shows?), and all while raising a family. She’s an inspiration, and for that, we celebrate her today (and every other day, really). Happy Birthday Victoria!


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