Victoria’s Secrets
With a new fashion line and a houseful of boys, Victoria Beckham has mastered her balancing act
Here’s an excerpt of her interview…
They say that to really understand somebody, you need to walk a mile in her shoes. But what if you can’t actually stand in her shoes? Such is the case with a pair of thigh-high PVC Antonio Berardi boots Victoria Beckham recently wore to a Macy’s appearance with her husband, David, in New York. It wasn’t that the heels were formidable; the boots had no heels at all. Victoria struck her patented pose for the assembled photographers while gamely perched on the balls of her feet.
“Oh, c’mon, they’re not that hard to walk in,” she admonishes as I masochistically try them on (after a bemused-looking housekeeper fetches them from Victoria’s closet). “They’re not uncomfortable! You have to go to a sex shop to get this spray to polish them.” Did she go buy it personally? “Oh. No …”
It’s a bright, shiny morning in Los Angeles, and Victoria, with a pixieish new haircut, is sitting on her couch in a slinky dress from her eponymous new line. The black sheath looks fetching against the royal-purple couch, the ensemble given a kick by the red soles of her Christian Louboutins. “What might feel like a nine-inch heel to most people is like a flip-flop to her,” sighs close friend Heidi Klum.
It’s easy to forget when you observe such a glamorous package that Victoria is the mother of three rambunctious young boys (Brooklyn, 9; Romeo, 6; and Cruz, 3) and the wife of a sports icon whose schedule prompted the family’s move to L.A. in 2007. (“We’re not going to leave L.A.,” she says emphatically, despite David‘s recent acceptance of a stint with Italy’s AC Milan team.) But you need only to watch Cruz bound into the house and into Victoria’s arms — then straight to the soccer ball.
For a woman largely perceived as the dictionary definition of high maintenance, Victoria looks rather at ease. After all, she has earned the approbation of a tough crowd, the fashion industry. Marc Jacobs is on his way over for lunch, and her week is packed with visits from Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, stylist Katie Grand, and photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. The family house, only one year on, looks like a home (albeit a very fancy, orchid-covered, Damien Hirst-bedecked one), with two palm trees out by the pool, between which the boys make their mother play goalkeeper. “That’s what this bruise is,” Victoria says ruefully, pointing to a mark on an otherwise glossy leg. “I’ve fallen down playing bloody soccer.”
See Photos Below:
For more on the interview, please check out Harper’s Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar US
January 2009
Victoria Beckham by Peter Lindbergh
Nudish Marc Jacobs editorial shot by Terry Richardson
JNEL & J. Magazine 