Victoria Beckham's relationship with fame has been going on for decades. Few celebrities have managed to maintain their popularity over the years as much as she, who became known in her twenties and turns 50 on April 17. First, as a music star with the
Spice Girls
, the female group that he has sold the most albums in history. After her, when she put her career on hold to start a family with David Beckham, the press exploited the image of a Victoria angry with the world, elitist and haughty. Currently, her name is linked to the fashion industry, in which she debuted as a designer in 2008. However, for many she is still David Beckham's wife, something that she herself takes with humor. So much so that the company that bears her name has for sale a white short-sleeved t-shirt
that
reads
David
's wife
, available for 110 pounds (about 129 euros at the exchange rate).
“I think you can be many things. A pop star, a mother, a wife, a designer... My passion has always been to dream big and then dream even bigger! Believe in yourself first; everyone else will follow you. And if you are very lucky, you will find someone who believes in you even more than you do,” she reflected in a message posted this Thursday on her Instagram account on his birthday. A message with words of gratitude to her parents, her husband and her four children.
The British woman has found the balance between her status as an international celebrity and that of a businesswoman and designer of a brand that, after many years, has finally provided benefits. “It is an exciting moment. This year we have had benefits. It is something that takes time, especially for an independent brand,” she revealed last October in an interview for the French edition of
Vogue
.
Victoria Adams, life before the Spice Girls phenomenon
The daughter of an electronic engineer and an insurance saleswoman and hairdresser, Victoria is the eldest of three siblings. She was born in Essex into a very wealthy family. In the documentary about David Beckham released on Netflix last year, she tries to highlight the working-class and humble character of her family until her husband enters the scene and asks: “In what car did your father take you to school?” ?” She refuses to answer, but in the end, at the insistence of her husband, she says: “In a Rolls Royce.” This cut, the most talked about in the documentary (and also monetized in her signature t-shirts), shows that, perhaps, the Adams family was wealthier than Victoria says.
As reported in a news story published by the BBC in 2002, the designer's life changed in 1993 when she responded to an advertisement in The
Stage
magazine looking for girls who could dance and sing to form a group. Behind that call were Bob and Chris Herbert, father and son representatives of musical artists. The Herberts signed Victoria Adams and the rest of the members - Melanie Chisholm (Mel C), Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown (Mel B) and Emma Bunton - and formed the band
Touch. That first attempt failed, the five young women decided to change
managers
and began working with Simon Fuller. The group renamed itself
Spice Girls. On July 7, 1996 they released their song
Wannabe
in the United Kingdom and the rest is history. “Each of us had fought in our own way. And I think that choosing five very normal girls, putting them together and taking them on a trip around the world was something incredible that none of us took lightly,” she recently told
W Magazine
about her experience as a member of the group.
Each of the members represented an archetype (stereotyped according to nineties fashions) and Victoria was
Posh Spice
, a nickname always present in her life. The Spice Girls became a mass phenomenon overnight. Taking advantage of their success, they released two albums in a row:
Spice,
in 1996, and
Spiceworld,
in 1997. In 2000,
Forever
arrived , the last one. During those years they lived on tour, becoming the most famous British women on the planet. Meanwhile, also in the United Kingdom, a young man named David Beckham was beginning to excel playing football for Manchester United. Victoria and David experienced stardom almost in parallel. In 1997, they met in person and on July 4, 1999 they got married in a high-profile and very expensive wedding.
The Beckham stage
The British tabloids, known for their practices of harassment and demolition, found in Posh and Becks, as they called the couple, their new goose that laid the golden eggs. The photographers followed each of their steps and their gestures were analyzed to the millimeter, giving rise to all kinds of rumors. “When people found out that we had started dating, the intensity of the paparazzi and the media was greater than ever,” he noted in
W Magazine
. This climate of media harassment brought other types of consequences. The former singer lived one of the most terrifying episodes of her life when she learned of a plot to kidnap her. In 2002, Scotland Yard arrested nine people involved in the alleged operation.
Some time before, in 2000, he had to deal with death threats sent to his parents' house, according to the press of the time. Such was her psychosis that during the rehearsal for her performance at the Brit Awards that year she had to be evacuated from the stage when a red pointer was detected pointing at her chest. To protect herself from that dark side of fame, she built a facade of being a serious and distant person, a response to the exacerbated attention that her person aroused, criticized for having too few curves or too many, even blamed when her husband had a bad day at home. the play field. “When I think about the Spice Girls era and everything the media put me through, I see how that affected me. When you are in that situation you protect yourself. As soon as I saw a paparazi, I put on my armor and that's how the world saw me (…). They painted me as someone who was always angry. It was false. But I am aware of the image I projected,” she told
Vogue
.
A long-distance career in fashion
The couple had their first child, Brooklyn, in March 1999, at age 24. Shortly after, in 2000, the Spice Girls made their separation official and Victoria Beckham tried to launch her solo career, put on hold permanently after the cold reception of her only studio album. It was then that she put music on the back burner to support her husband and dedicate herself to her family (after Brooklyn came Romeo, 21, Cruz, 19, and Harper Seven, 12). From 2003 to 2007 the Beckhams lived in Madrid and David triumphed as one of the stars of the Galacticos' Real Madrid. This time was especially hard for the designer, the epicenter of the national press, but it was in Spain where she began to forge the idea of creating her own fashion brand, as Victoria herself has revealed. Then life in Los Angeles arrived and everything changed for the better. In 2007, the band reunited to the joy of their fans, released a compilation album and gave dozens of concerts on a tour that lasted 12 months, until April 2008. The last time Victoria Beckham was seen on stage was in 2012, in the iconic performance held at the closing ceremony of the London Olympic Games. The singer refused to reunite with the Spice Girls, who have continued to offer concerts without her.
In 2008 he saw the dream of a lifetime come true: launching his brand. His extensive bag collection (he has more than a hundred
Birkins
, Hermès' most exclusive model) and his attendance at fashion shows in his Posh Spice era had already given clues to his love for fashion. “It was something she had always wanted to do. At school, she customized my uniforms and those of my classmates,” she responded in a recent interview when asked about the creation of her eponymous brand. After 14 long years, the company has achieved profits for the first time just a few months ago. The
Financial Times
newspaper states that the income of the VBHL company (Victoria Beckham Holding Limited) grew by 44%, to 58.8 million pounds in 2022 compared to 40.9 million in 2021.
In its beginnings, skepticism in the
fashion business
was evident and the future of the brand seemed more than uncertain. For many it was another attempt by a celebrity to capitalize on his fame by diversifying businesses. The industry had counted on her as a powerful commercial attraction on many occasions: she starred in campaigns, magazine covers, launched perfumes... but it was one thing to be an external agent and another to want to be part of one of the most hermetic machines in the world. Beckham is aware of her visibility, which is why she is the best ambassador for her and does not hesitate to dress head to toe in clothes from her brand. Of course, the list of celebrities and personalities who have trusted her designs is growing by the moment. From Queen Letizia and Kate Middleton to the singer Rosalía or actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway and, of course, her friend Eva Longoria, godmother of her daughter.
New businesses and challenges
In 2019, she expanded her business with the creation of Victoria Beckham Beauty, a beauty division that operates as an independent brand and has been very well received. “I've worked hard to get here, to have the Paris seal of approval from both the fashion and beauty industries and you know what? “It's something very difficult to achieve,” she recently concluded in
Allure
. This beauty line is now joined by a collection of perfumes inspired by her life with David Beckham. Together for 27 years, in almost all of her interviews or public talks the name of her husband comes up. Family life is the protagonist of a good part of the content shared by the designer on her social networks and she has also collaborated with the partners of her children to promote her fashion brand, knowing the extra interest that linking her personal life with the professional.
At 50 years old, she exercises full control over her image. She stopped caring a long time ago about what the press published and uses social networks with great assiduity to show herself as she really is, or at least, how she wants to be perceived: “As soon as I was able to communicate through social networks, people He could see the real me. But let's be clear: I never post to prove anything to anyone. "I stopped caring a long time ago what people thought about me (...) Thanks to the networks, people now see me as a working woman, a wife, a mother... my authentic personality."
The Beckhams have not abandoned the public eye, but it is not something they have attempted either. Now that the glare of the paparazzi flash has dimmed, they appear comfortable in their celebrity status, frequently lavishing themselves on the red carpet, supporting each other with their projects (the entire family never misses Victoria's fashion shows ) and share their moments together with their millions of followers. The year that marks three decades after the creation of the Spice Girls (Royal Mail, the British postal service, launched commemorative stamps last January), she is the only one of the five who has completely reinvented herself. At the head of her business in fashion and beauty, this year she joined a collaboration with the watch brand Breitling. And from April 23, she will be able to buy the capsule collection that she has designed with Mango, a launch that coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Spanish brand and is expected to be a bestseller. Tireless, turning years old does not diminish the energy of the businesswoman who assures that this is just the beginning: “I have a lot of ambition and I have worked hard to achieve my goals. “I never expect things to come by themselves.” The message she posted yesterday on her Instagram, where she has more than 32 million followers, ended with a warning for the future: “This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter and I'm just getting started.”