Football and Fashion |

If there has ever been doubt about the title of “fashion designer” as applied to super-mum Victoria Beckham, no one is likely to harbour it any longer.  She presented a preview of her new fall collection on Valentine’s Day during the New York Fashion Week.  This is her fourth dress collection and it certainly appears that she is very much in the forefront and on target with her trademark designs.

The VB look is sleek, elegant and timeless, though Victoria told interviewers that a lot of the influence in her latest collection came from her study of 1940’s comic strips.  Her ultra-stylish trench coat design was inspired by the Dick Tracy character, and other designs call up the understated sexiness of early Hollywood “femme’ fatale”.

Beckham said she is working with texture, draping and structure to attain ever-higher goals of elegance and fluidity in the garments she designs.  Her attention to detail is another trademark of the VB line, perfectly highlighted in her column gown with built-in corset. She hosted the small salon showing in one of her best creations, a wool tunic-dress for all occasions, completed with platform pumps designed for her by Brian Atwood.

Victoria Beckham’s top quality line keeps on selling out, even in these ‘challenging’ financial times; sales will probably run close to £4.7million in the coming year.  If, as she laughingly mentioned to reporters, her son Romeo intends to take over the business some day, he will undoubtedly have a going and growing concern to work with.

Victoria Beckham is reportedly thinking about taking a £25m offer if she helps to design a new luxury hotel.

More jaw shocking however than the fee, may be the fact that Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, wrote to her himself to ask if she would help after meeting her and her husband during a holiday in the Gulf area.

The hotel in need of aid would be located on the Isla Moda which is a small isle off the coast of Dubai that will be fashion themed with the aid of designer Karl Lagerfeld.

However, as astounding as the entire offer may seem, Beckham is thinking about if she should take on the project or not, because as a mom of three she is not sure if she has enough spare time to focus on the project.

According to a source close to Beckham, she was astounded by how much the Dubai ruler offered her after she met the Shiek last summer.  However, the two have been communicating for months about the project and she has not yet decided if she has the time because accepting would mean getting hands-on with the designs and decision making.

For the moment, according to a spokeswoman for Beckham, her focus is on New York fashion week, but she is of course always on the lookout for more opportunities to grow her business.

The Isla Moda is a manmade island that is part of the Dubai archipelago which is referred to as The World due to the fact that the 300 islands were made to look like a globe from an aerial view.

Victoria Beckham suffered a fashion blow when her new £35,000 collection of dresses was stolen during a well thought out roadside heist at knife point.

The collection which includes between 50 and 75 dresses took Beckham months to design. The dresses were taken from a lorry that left Beckham’s West London management offices.

The driver was not seriously injured although he was bruised and shaken from being pushed to the ground during the hijack. Beckham was said to be devastated about the loss with a source including the fact that with everyone including Madonna is wearing her designs the dresses have a ‘money can’t touch’ air about them.

The source continued to say that the hijack was planned out perfectly and that the thieves must be sure they will sell well on black market.  The lorry was supposed to deliver the dresses to the airport but stopped to make a delivery at another address.

The driver came back from the delivery and noticed the padlock was broken at which point the thieves jumped out of the back and ran off with the dresses.

Beckham was said to be notified immediately and was expectedly crushed, but glad to hear the driver was not injured. A cinema CCTV camera shows the hijack, but the pictures do not show the registration of the truck used by the thieves.

Since Beckham has started a fashion career her work has been seen on megastars such as Brooke Shields, Katherine Jenkins, and Drew Barrymore.

Victoria Beckham is no longer the top earning WAG in Britain as Cheryl Cole the X Factor Judge has knocked the former Spice Girl off the spot by earning a reported £6.9m this year.

Cole has made her millions at the young age of 26 from her work with Girls Aloud, her own solo career, and from TV sponsorship deals.

Beckham on the other hand, was only able to raise £6.75 all of which came from the Spice Girls reunion and her fashion label.

An unnamed source commented that it was simply a waiting game to see who would finally take Beckham’s spot as the top WAG.  The source continued to say that Cole is the reasonable choice since she has a hand in every field from judging X-Factor to the band, to sponsorship by L’Oreal.

A large reason for Cole’s earning power to double in size is her place on the judging panel on X-Factor next to Simon Cowell.  She is estimated to be worth about £12m total and earned a solid £2.5m from her music career.

£500,000 of Cole’s earnings came from the L’oreal deal and another £1.25m came from wise property investments.

Despite the large earnings by Cole during the last calendar year, Beckham still owns the title for the wealthiest overall WAG as Coles £12m does little to touch Beckham’s personal fortune of about £45m due to the fact she is married to David Beckham who is easily the most recognizable footballer in the UK.