Posh frocks: Victoria Beckham's fifth collection was unveiled during New York fashion week earlier todayShe 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.
Bold moves: The elegant evening dress is a still a staple, but new silhouettes and metallics add an exciting twist to the wearable pieces
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, 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.
Bell-shaped beauties: Cinched-in waists and pocket detailing are VB trademarksShe 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.
It-bags: Victoria has introduced structured bags, left, which she says husband David Beckham can useThis 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.
Shape-shifting: The classic dresses are a good alternative for clients who prefer a looser-fitting dressThe 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.
The collection was certainly better judged than Mrs Beckham's most recent promotional venture, when she and husband David, 35, launched their fragrance Intimately Yours with a toe- curling advert in which they kissed and fondled one another in a lift.
The scent, so they claimed, was 'designed to capture the essence of David and Victoria Beckham's passion and the power of their relationship'.
Hard at work: Victoria, wearing a dress from her own collection and Brian Atwood stilettos, is so pleased with the show, she even cracked a rare smileLIZ JONES: MY FASHION VERDICT
It was inevitable, as predictable as Dawn French promoting the Chocolate Orange. Victoria Beckham does bags!
She owns, after all, some 100 Birkin bags by Hermes. Many crocodiles and snakes have died so the twiglet one has somewhere to put her Polos.
And beside the tiny catwalk yesterday during New York Fashion Week for spring/summer 2011, it was the bags that sent everyone a-twittering. there were huge travel bags ('big enough to hold David's football'), and teeny tiny clutches (big enough to hold his brain?), but above all, the bags were boxy and grown-up, in orange, tan and white.
One of the bags, called 'the Victoria', is a tote that comes in buffalo or crocodile, and only one colour: bone. Rather apt, methinks.
But what of the clothes? Well, in this,
her fifth collection, Victoria has gone out on a (slender) limb. She is to be commended for abandoning black, and for playing with volume. I really loved a cream-corseted prom dress in silk organdie, shot with lilac stripes.
Success: Critics give a round of applause to Victoria's collection
She obviously worked very hard to get all the details just so; front row, she looked exhausted, always a good sign in a designer.
But I have to take issue with her statement backstage that she was 'celebrating feminism and curves'. What she meant was, 'I have made dresses that suit me, which means women with teeny tiny bodies and big breasts.'
The problem was, none of the models quite filled out the bodices, meaning the dresses bunched rather about the bust. A floorlength silver lame sheath was too untidy; this sort of simplicity needs a master, like Oscar de la Renta, to pull it off.
A nude 'body-con' dress was not as forgiving as one by Azzedine Alaia, who understands the women who buy his clothes might have imperfections; Victoria just thinks they should work out more, and live on edamame beans.
And here we reach the crux of the problem. this collection - with day dresses likely to be priced at around £800 and the evening dresses at £1,000 - is about what suits her; she is not thinking about women who don't have her lifestyle, bank balance and vital statistics.
The pink gold shoes were made, apparently, to match the face on the Rolex David gave his wife for her birthday.
Again, the shoes were designed for women who travel by limousine or stretch SUV, not on the tube.
There was no passion about this collection. Want to understand what drives Victoria? The colours were all described in the programme with the names of cars, a nod to the fact she's been hired as a designer by Range Rover.
Her move into creating bags that will hover around £1,000 is just as calculated: it's all about the idea of a woman accumulating wealth.
The mark of a good designer is whether they can make a perfect pair of trousers, an impeccable jacket. What did we see on Sunday instead? A mere frocky horror show.
source: dailymail