NEW YORK – For someone who has been famous since the late 1990s, Victoria Beckham is surprisingly busy in the 2020s.

After many years in the red, the British pop star-turned-designer’s eponymous fashion company  Victoria Beckham Holdings  saw revenue growth of more than 50 per cent in 2023, and shrunk its operating losses before tax to £2.9 million (S$5 million), putting it on the road to profitability. It is no small thing for an independent luxury fashion brand.

She  also introduced a successful fragrance line two years ago, and became the accidental star of Beckham, the 2023 Netflix documentary series about her husband, football star David Beckham. Her charming , funny  cameos showed a playful and relatable side to the megawatt couple, they of the matching purple Versace wedding outfits and who have three sons aged 26, 22 and 20 and a 14-year-old daughter.

2025 is looking no less buzzy for Victoria Beckham. For the first time, the 51-year-old showed her resort collection in person, rather than digitally, at a glamorous trunk show at Centurion New York, where American Express’ (Amex) Centurion members could have an early pick of the pieces.

In autumn, the Spice Girls singer will be the star of her own Netflix docuseries , which will follow her day to day as the creative director of her fashion and beauty brands.

“It’s hard work and determination that have built the brand into what it is now ,” she told Bloomberg in an exclusive interview at Centurion. 

The company cannot yet say that it was in the black in 2024, as official figures for last year have not been finalised.

In recent years, it has received millions in cash injections from its owners, which include Beckham and her husband, British entertainment mogul Simon Fuller’s XIX Management and NEO Investment Partners, a private equity firm. But the strategy seems to be working, as revenue has grown by double digits for three straight years.

The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What made you decide to show this collection in New York?

I was having brunch with Thom Browne and Anna Wintour a few months ago and she said to me: “You should come back to New York and show one of your collections.”

It is something I have been thinking about for a while, because I showed my first collection here in New York in 2008 . New York has been such a huge part of my story so far. I was approached by Amex to come here and it just worked perfectly to do it.

Were you nervous when you did that first presentation in 2008?

I was so nervous. And let me tell you, I am just as nervous now. Because I really care. I am a product person, I love creating the clothes, make-up and fragrances . I am very hands-on with the creative process. I never want to settle.

No matter what it is I am creating – it could be a simple white T-shirt – it has got to be the right fabric, the right shape, the right execution. My name’s on the label.

For the last publicly available numbers, from 2023, your losses shrank dramatically. What changed to make that happen? 

We brought our price point down, and we merged the two brands that we had at the time into one. I wanted to challenge myself and my teams to create collections that didn’t feel like a compromise. They felt very considered, perfectly executed, using really great fabrics. But how could we do that at an affordable luxury price point? And it wasn’t easy.

Your clothing is very functional. Each outfit seems to have a clear use case.

I believe everything I do should be rooted in some form of reality. You should be able to wear everything. It always makes me laugh when you see people go into events and they have to go in a car where they stand up. Or they can’t walk properly. You got to be able to dream, but you have to still b e able to wear these clothes.

Victoria Beckham has been in the fashion industry for nearly 20 years.

PHOTO: VICTORIA BECKHAM/INSTAGRAM

You have a documentary coming up in autumn.

My husband convinced me to do this documentary. To be honest, I wasn’t sure anybody would really want to see what I do every day. It focuses on what I do, and my role as founder and creative director of the two brands. I thought long and hard about it, and then I realised that now is the time to do it.

I have been very defined by a four-year period in my life when I was in the Spice Girls. And I am so proud of that. But with that came all the preconceptions.

I have been in the fashion industry creating my own collections for nearly 20 years. And it has taken this long for me to feel confident enough in what I do and my brand, knowing that now is the time I can talk about my past.

I can talk about the journey, I can talk about struggles, because I can do that confidently feeling it is not going to damage the brand. Nothing is sugar-coated.

Are there tears?

There are tears. And it did occur to me the other day, what am I going to think when I see those tears on a huge screen? Or on an iPhone? To be completely honest, I am in the hands of the editor now.

Is your husband on it?

Well, he might end up on the cutting-room floor. Who knows? They have filmed a little bit of David and the children because they are such a huge part of everything.

What are you collecting these days?

I collect watches, so I have a nice Patek Philippe collection. And we both like to collect contemporary art. That is something we have both enjoyed learning about over the last few years.

The palette of this collection was inspired by a Francis Bacon piece from 1979 that I had in my store, because I’ve recently done a collaboration with Sotheby’s. It is muted tones with pops of colour. And there is a red flower print that was inspired by some Gary Hume pieces that I have in my house. They were the first pieces of art we owned.

When it comes to fashion, how do you discover stuff? Are you too famous to go to shops?

No. I love to go out and go shopping quite often. I will go out in my workout clothing, maybe in a baseball cap. I like to experience brands physically, as opposed to online.

Do you take any of that back to your store in London?

Yes. Especially customer service.

What have you learnt about customer service?

How important the security guards are that work at the front of the stores.

Oh, because of theft?

Because of how people are treated when they come into the store. That is part of my brand DNA, welcoming people.

The other day, I said to my security when I was walking into my store: “You’re the most important person in here.” 

I remember when I was younger going into stores, it could be quite intimidating. And I just would never like to make people feel like that. Even if you are just coming in to get inspired by the architecture or look at the collaborations I might be showcasing. Or the contemporary art.

Do you imagine yourself selling the company to a luxury group in the long term?

I am open right now. I am very proud of how far we have come as an independent brand. I think that the future for me, the next step for me is retail globally.

Does that mean we might have a store here?

I’d love to. I think that will hopefully happen at some point next year . BLOOMBERG

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