Can a Spice Girl pull off French-girl chic? Victoria Beckham has won over fashion sceptics in New York and London, but for her first catwalk show in almost three years she upped the ante with a jump to the quintessential style capital.
“Paris is the ultimate dream,” said Beckham before a show staged in the honeyed stone cloisters of the baroque Val de Grace church. “It’s a pinch-me moment to be here.” Although the designer insisted she was more excited than nervous, this is a challenging time for her brand. A work-from-home zeitgeist has been an ill wind for a name which trades on jet-set glamour. Prices have had to come down in order to boost sales. And the celebrity circus around the Beckham name – invaluable for bringing allure and piquancy to a relatively small fashion label – had threatened to overshadow the show with rumours of a ‘feud’ between Beckham and her daughter-in-law.
