Victoria Beckham SS24 at Paris Fashion Week

Victoria Beckham SS24 / Spring Summer 2024 at Paris Fashion Week. Physicality sculpts our bodies and clothes. Postures and gestures imprint the garments we wear, activate them, and imbue them with soul. For Victoria Beckham, who spent her formative years studying classic and contemporary ballet and musical theatre, the memory of dance is ever-present.

The Victoria Beckham Spring Summer 2024 Collection investigates through construction ballet’s emotional and somatic impressions on clothes and the way the body carries them. With the dancer’s simple uniform as its point of departure, the wardrobe illustrates the intrigue movement invokes within garments and accessories.

The idea of infusing cloth with character evolves in an exploration of the history and stories reflected in the antique fabric furnishings of old houses in the British countryside, a source of recreation and inspiration for Victoria Beckham. It triggers a study of the active wardrobes of British country pursuits spliced with the codes of ballet across tailoring, flou and accessories.

This meeting of worlds is rendered in a purified palette informed by a Degas work on paper of ballerinas and reflected in the delicate, almost metallic pastels of Monet’s series on the Houses of Parliament as well as his studies of Les Meules.

The authentic jersey t-shirt of dancewear becomes a focal point for a study of movement. Suspended from wire in goutte d’eau necklines evocative of the stage leotard, the motions of ballet are freeze-framed within the humble fabric in a body-distorting tension between reduction and abstraction.

The idea unfolds in sculpted denim tops and trousers, and oversized knits worn as dresses. Gradually, the t-shirt mutates into draped jersey dresses, which ultimately take the form of sheer tulle gowns for Victoria Beckham SS24.

The cushioning employed by ballerinas to manipulate the shape of their physique – in leg warmers, dance belts and slippers – is re-contextualised in the amplified wadding of the shoulders and three-dimensional lapels of tailored jackets. It is echoed in the circularly padded bustier of an Eau de Nil silk dress cross-inspired by the image of 1930s’ tea dresses.

The genre abounds in deconstructed silhouettes as well as pure white cotton dresses and combinaisons adorned with elements adapted from the interior textiles of British country houses: the embroidery of a tablecloth, the scalloped trim of a napkin, the Broderie Anglaise of a curtain.

The country motif further manifests in refined field jackets as well as in sharply cut, square suiting.

Here, Victoria Beckham’s ongoing exploration of the tailoring process – through which the construction is elevated into decoration – fuses with the collection’s focus on dance by imbuing garments with the creases created by movement. Twisted lapels celebrate the anatomical gestures of ballet while elasticated waistbands nod at the rehearsal uniform.

Victoria Spring Summer 2024, Suits cut with shorts and worn with knee-high socks cement a British country sensibility enhanced by pointed slip-on leather brogues and open-back walking boots. V-shaped heels set on a pointed V-shaped platform sole feature a bridged wedge likewise echoed in dance-inspired knee-high open-toe sock boots.

The dancer’s wardrobe is interpreted in a new square leather gym bag. Proposed in three sizes, its collapsible construction enables it to be carried as a holdall, a handbag, or a cross-body bag. A new pouch worn for day or evening nods at the make-up bags of ballerinas. Tote bags are adorned with the B buckle of the collection’s belts, while the signature Chain Pouch is introduced in padded form in leather and denim in keeping with the season’s study of ballet attire.

The salons of Hôtel de Soyecourt are scented with Suite 302, one of three new fragrances by Victoria Beckham. Its notes distil the designer’s memories of whirlwind trips to Paris in an intoxicating parfum of glamour.