She might have leant into tracksuits, trainers and snuggly knits during lockdown, but Victoria Beckham is ready to dress up again. At least according to her autumn/winter 2021 collection – which was unveiled this weekend, off the official London Fashion Week schedule (one of the positives in the necessary shift to virtual presentations from IRL catwalks is that it is giving designers greater autonomy around when they show).
‘Optimistic but realistic. Our strategic vision for the business this season is about acknowledging where we are right now, and dreaming about where we are going to be,’ said Beckham in a personal statement that accompanied the collection. ‘With a hybrid approach, bridging seasons, this collection is founded in the now.'
So what does the now look like? To Beckham it means accommodating our newfound desire for comfort, but emboldening it with the glamour and polish of an out-out wardrobe. ‘Tailoring is strong: people still want to dress up,’ she wrote. ‘But there’s a need for comfort. There’s a sense of protection - a toughness - to trenches and overcoats with military detailing. But there’s also a delicacy to soft, easy georgette and jersey dresses, a playfulness to pop colour and prints.' It’s all about contrast.
Key pieces for your back-to-reality wardrobe, then, include fluid tailoring, diaphanous midi dresses(a blooming wallpaper floral print will be sure to jolt you out of hibernation mode) and a succession of easy knits, that would elevate your WFHfit now, and be the perfect wardrobe all-rounder going forward. Missed denim? Beckham makes the case for giving it the hat-trick treatment (mere double denim is for amateurs) – with jeans worn with a denim shirt and tucked into denim knee-high boots.
Indeed, Beckham is Queen of the statement knee-high boot. This season’s come in silver or bedazzled with glitter. If that’s not reason enough to go out dancing again – then let the practical block heel convince you. Pizzazz plus practicality is your mantra now. Or as VB puts it: ‘There’s a sense of the hybrid, of crossing between formal and casual, shifting between seasons, of challenging the norm. Breaking rules.’
SHOP: Victoria Beckham at Home Collection
1 of 5VB, Colour-Block Blanket In Blue-Black Multi, £350
2 of 5VB, Colour-Block Blanket In Red-Orange Multi, £350
3 of 5VB, Colour-Block Cushion In Blue-Black Multi, £190
4 of 5VB, Colour-Block Cushion In Red-Orange Multi, £190
5 of 5VB, Colour-Block Scarf In Red-Orange Multi, £170
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