6 days Ago By Daniel Rodgers
In 2007, the aspiring fashion designer Victoria Beckham relocated from Holland Park to Los Angeles, following husband David ’s appointment as a midfielder for the LA Galaxy football team. The move precipitated a subtle but significant style shift for the then pop star, including a Ronseal-adjacent tan and a peroxide pixie cut with one-sided bangs that she would later dismiss with a succinct, “ absolutely not ”. One thing that remains largely unchanged from that era, though, is the designer’s enthusiasm for bodycon dresses.
If Posh, as she was then known, was arriving at Marc Jacobs shows in Hervé Leger ’s signature bandage dresses, Glamour ’s Women of the Year Awards in sculpting Chanel corsets and the VMAs in zebra-print North Beach Leather minidresses offset with hot-pink bras, the VB of 2025 is attending banquets at Buckingham Palace , the Louvre and Highgrove in equally form-fitting – though considerably longer hemmed – dresses of her own making. Take, for example, the gathered, long-sleeved stretch dress she wore this week to launch her capsule with the Ounass department store in Dubai. This was a dress so sinuous it could have doubled as a Marvel costume.
Much like Kim Kardashian in beige shapewear or Justin Bieber in oversized loungewear, these particular designs have become an irrefutable uniform for Beckham. Celebrities have long taken ownership of an aesthetic to codify who they are and what they’re about – and, at this point, the designer’s bone-clinging dresses are a symbol as recognisable as the black-out sunglasses that typically shield her face. There is a quiet power in wearing a variation on a theme, in knowing yourself enough to resist the ebbs and flows of the trend cycle, and in becoming the embodiment of the brand you brought to market.
.
