Victoria Beckham Fall Winter 2023
PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 03: Rianne Van Rompaey walks the runway during the Victoria Beckham Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2023-2024 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Over the last 15 years, Victoria Beckham have showed on the New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week schedules. But Paris, where they made their debut last season, feels like the brand’s spiritual home. For her second outing at the French capital, Fall Winter 2023, the brand unveiled one of their most assured and confident outings to date. Set in a sprawling, light-filled Parisian chateau, the space was chocked-full of the who’s who of fashion and entertainment. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Eva Longoria, Jourdan Dunn, and Ashley Graham were among the A-list celebrities to turn out in support of Beckham, as was—naturally—the designer’s famous family: husband David, daughter Harper, sons Cruz, Romeo, and Brooklyn, and daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz Beckham. 

As for the clothes, they embraced an eclectic sensibility that trod new sartorial ground for the brand. Beckham took as inspiration Edith Bouvier Beale, better known as ‘Little Edie’, the eccentric American socialite who became a global sensation upon the release of the Maysles’ brothers 1976 documentary Grey Gardens. A still of Drew Barrymore in character as Edie from the 2009 TV film about Bouvier was used on Beckham’s invitations, and she told press backstage before the show that she was drawn to Little Edie’s “sense of fun, [like] a little girl buried inside playing dress-up.”

That sense of “playing dress-up” was clear from the first look: a quintessentially Victoria Beckham pleated day dress, pushed into new territory with an oversized ostrich feather detail at the waist and silk pink plissè sleeves. It was styled with a particularly fabulous cape-style trench coat, fishnet tights, and towering heels, and set the tone for a collection that taught you to expect the unexpected. The ostrich feather motif continued throughout, in baby blue affixed to a crop top worn with a great slouchy suit, on a great two-toned wrap pleated midi skirt. It was also transformed into a print that appeared on the closing duo of stretch jersey dresses. The trompe l’oeil had a surreal effect, on first glance appearing like tie-dye.

Speaking of surrealism, Beckham also integrated another unexpected element, inspired by the artist Solange Pesso: hair. One second guessed themselves as a pair of paperbag jeans strode down the runway, styled with a turtleneck blouse affixed with cascading blonde tresses. A sharp tea dress had a single lock of blonde hair tied around the neck. A metallic knit dress featured a heavy hemline of auburn hair. It suited Beckham to step into this bold new territory, her confidence as a designer more assertive than ever. Clearly she and Little Edie—a fearless dresser with a supreme level of self-assurance—have more in common than first meets the eye.

Victoria Beckham Fall Winter 2023
PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 03: A model walks the runway during the Victoria Beckham Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2023-2024 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Victoria Beckham Fall Winter 2023
PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 03: A model walks the runway during the Victoria Beckham Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2023-2024 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Victoria Beckham Fall Winter 2023
PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 03: A model walks the runway during the Victoria Beckham Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2023-2024 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)