Victoria Beckham talks ‘clean’ beauty and the new sex appeal of ‘big’ dresses
It’s been a busy week at Victoria Beckham HQ. Not only has the designer just unveiled her new spring/summer 2020 collection at London’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but she has just launched her own eponymous beauty line, Victoria Beckham Beauty. caught up with the indefatigable LFW star after her final bow to talk ‘clean’ beauty and the so-wrong-it’s-right colour pairings that are inspiring her current aesthetic.
This week, you’ve revealed the Victoria Beckham spring/summer 2020 collection and launched a beauty brand – how are you feeling?
It’s been such a big week, with the show and with launching Victoria Beckham Beauty – it’s been mind blowing.
Tell us about the new spring/summer 2020 runway collection?
I love this collection. For me, we established certain codes last season that have now become part of the Victoria Beckham DNA. Number one is colour. In autumn/winter 2019 we started using a strange mix of colours that are almost ‘wrong’ together. There are lots of neutrals mixed in a strange way, and we’ve punctuated the collection with bright green, purple, lemon yellow and icy blues. The colours feel fresh.
The prints also feel really luminous. And I love the ruffles story – which feels like they are dancing around you as you walk – and how the big dresses are so light. They feel really sexy, but not in a tight or revealing way.
What was on your mood board this season?
Click Here: Cardiff Blues StoreAs a team, we are always obsessed with 1970s movies and music – I never like to do anything too 1970s, but it’s just an era that I really like. We take all of our inspiration and put it in a big VB blender, and out comes the character of the season. When we threw in a bright green, it took the collection in a more 1980s direction. The tailoring is always inspired by menswear and finding ways to update that, so it feels first and new.
What was your most important consideration when creating your beauty line from scratch?
With the makeup, it always comes down to what I want in my own makeup bag and what my community want in their makeup bag. It’s about staying true to myself and engaging digitally with my customer, so I can give her what she wants.
What I’m doing with beauty is not perfect – we’re still educating ourselves, but [exactly what] ‘clean’ means can be very confusing. It’s such a grey area. I spent a long time educating myself so that I can offer my consumer ‘clean’ beauty products. With the packaging, I’m making sure I’m using minimal plastic and using 100 per cent post-consumer waste for the outer packaging. I want us to be kind to ourselves and I want to make it easy for my consumer to go on my website and see all of the ingredients, because otherwise it can be really time consuming.
What products should we be most excited about in the beauty range?
I thought it was good to start with an eye story, because eyes are something that people really associate with me – whether that’s a day-time smoky eye, or throwing a lid lustre over the top to make yourself red-carpet or cocktail-party ready. My nude lipstick is going to be the next [makeup release] that I’m excited about.