Upon receiving her own OBE in 2011, three years after the launch of her eponymous brand at New York Fashion Week, Beckham, by now a fully fledged businesswoman, had done away with the awkward headwear that tradition seems to dictate, and leaned into the idea of an artfully undone messy bun. The platforms (once a Spice Girl, always a Spice Girl), too, had been traded for vertiginous, point-toe stilettos that lent her louche draped dresses added polish, while subtly skirting palace protocol. I mean, how else was she supposed to shake Prince William’s hand when she famously can’t concentrate in flats?
Victoria’s learnings from years inside these hallowed halls came to fruition this week at a Buckingham Palace reception for the Emir of Qatar. Wearing a form-fitting liquid silk satin gown of her own design that had Balenciaga-like proportions (think Isabelle Huppert on the red carpet and you’re basically there), Beckham commanded her brief spell in the spotlight with the poise of a public figure who has been doing this for decades and the nous of a now-acclaimed creative director who knows what works for her. That slimline silhouette and sheeny fabrication were certainly more daring than we have seen from her at royal engagements in the past, but with fresh skin and scraped-back hair, it skewed businessy rather than bold.
One might have assumed Victoria’s royal transformation to be more dramatic (this is the person whose lavish country pile was nicknamed Beckingham Palace, as my colleague Daniel Rodgers recently reminded us), but Beckham has always understood that less is always more on occasions that are about playing the supporting, rather than the starring role. In terms of nailing the brief, Victoria Beckham has never stepped an Alaïa-clad foot out of line. In fact, she has politely used each invitation to discreetly shine a spotlight on her own personal brand – one that was made in Britain and has now gone global thanks, in part, to the opportunities she’s had to show it off.
