PARIS — Having won over critics in New York
and London,
Victoria Beckham takes the step to the pinnacle of the luxury world
with her debut at Paris Fashion Week, which opens Monday.
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"It's the arrival of a very beautiful
label. We rejoice that Victoria Beckham is among us," Pascal Morand, head
of the French Federation for Haute Couture and Fashion (FHCM), told AFP.
The 48-year-old Brit joins 104 labels in the
official line-up for the pret-a-porter spring-summer shows in Paris — the most
commercially important week of the fashion calendar.
A handful of brands are sticking to online
presentations that became the norm during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
But most of the big names are fully back in
the swing of live runway shows, including Dior, Chanel, Saint Laurent, Stella
McCartney, and Issey Miyake, as well as emerging brands such as Weinsanto, who
kick off proceedings on Monday.
Beckham held her first fashion show in New
York in 2008 and has mostly presented there over the years, aside from a brief
dalliance with London.
"Don't underestimate her," Vogue
supremo Anna Wintour said when Beckham was starting out, and indeed the former
Spice Girl has proved she is more than just a celebrity hobbyist.
But despite having 250 global outlets for
her clothes, 30 million followers on Instagram, and one of the most famous
husbands in the world, Beckham's company has always struggled to turn a
profit.
'The big league'
In a bid to turn things around, she has
recruited top French talent, including former FHCM president Ralph Toledano as
chairman and Marie Leblanc de Reynies, formerly lead buyer at Paris department
store Printemps, as CEO.
"Victoria is not from the fashion
world. She threw herself into the business and at a certain point, she needed
to structure, organize, and bring some order to the house, which is what we've
been doing for the past four years," Toledano told AFP.
A successful cosmetics line, launched in
2019, has helped trim losses, and the team hopes to break even in the coming
months.
"We've defined a strategy, combined two
pret-a-porter lines, found the right price-point ... now it's time to enter the
big league," said Toledano.
That means Paris Fashion Week, where
Beckham will present on Friday — launching her into the loftiest and most scrutinized
of the industry events.
"She's a bit intimidated, she's someone
very humble," said Toledano.
It is a sign of the continued importance of
the traditional fashion events, even as some labels break away from the
relentless routine of the official calendar.
Notably absent this week is French label
Celine, whose artistic director Hedi Slimane has blown hot and cold on fashion
weeks.
Having declared the whole system
"obsolete" in 2020, he was back for the menswear showcase in June,
before failing to show again for womenswear — all without explanation.
Morand insisted Celine's absence was a
"non-event".
"The label or artistic director can
make other choices. There is that freedom," he said.
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