November 1997. The Spice Girl's second album, "Spiceworld", sold seven million copies in just two weeks and the group established itself as a major figure in British pop culture and an emancipatory girl power. Above all, Victoria / Posh has just met the footballer David Beckham with whom she decides - before their romance spreads in the tabloids - to fly to Portofino and its scent of Italian Riviera, its citrus fruits and white geranium flowers.
It is precisely this smell that the designer (who will parade in a few days in Paris) has chosen to evoke in her Portofino '97, when Suite 302 is inspired by a night in a Parisian palace and San Ysidro Drive, the couple's discovery of the West Coast and its "way of life", between meditation, surfing and lithotherapy. Three intimate compositions whose carefully thought out marketing features one of the most exposed and adored couples of the British. Well done.
LE FIGARO. - How did this project come about?
Victoria BECKHAM. - This is my most personal project to date, especially since I rarely talk about my private life. I've been working on it for eight years! People have always followed my story with David whom I met 27 years ago. They remember when I was a Spice Girl and he, a footballer, when we had our children, they followed David's career at Manchester United, Real Madrid and then the Los Angeles Galaxy and our return to London... Rather than revealing the too intimate details, I wanted to evoke all this through the smells that my memory recorded, a bit like a fragrant autobiography.
The marketing of the three compositions features one of the most exposed and adored couples of the British. Dan Jackson for Victoria Beckham
What memories behind these three fragrances?
Suite 302 is the most powerful, the most opulent, the most erotic even. It is inspired by one of our stays in Paris during our second honeymoon, the lascivious smell of good wines, cosmetics and leather mixed with the smoke of the hotel's candles. Paris remains a very important place for us: we spent a lot of time there, but it is also here that I have chosen to parade for a year. With Jérôme Epinette, master perfumer at Robertet, we also worked around an absolute of pink to transcribe the energy of San Ysidro Drive and around summer white flowers for Portofino '97. All these juices are mixed and are considered like a fragrant wardrobe, interchangeable according to his mood and style.
The white flowers of the Portofino '97 perfume tell the Italian escapade of the couple adored by the British. Victoria Beckham
Is the launch of perfumes a must today for a fashion brand?
Perfumes seemed to me as a logical continuation... We had gained enough maturity and expertise and I had the right team in place. My brand is still independent, I didn't want to use a licensing agreement for example. In my opinion, fashion and perfume are inseparable. The wake completes the look.
190€ for 50 ml. Samaritan and on victoriabeckhambeauty.com
