Only one dress out of the 26 Victoria Beckham showed today featured a corset. That s groundbreaking news for a glamour puss who looks so pulled together in paparazzi snapshots you d swear she wears a waist cincher to the gym. But as Beckham said while narrating the collection, her own style has loosened up quite a bit, and it showed in the clothes. She opened with a draped parachute silk dress in ultraviolet knotted at the torso, and included a few more variations of the theme, including a striking gown in black with jet embroidery at the shoulder. Kudos for expanding the range, though the irony is a weightless fabric like parachute silk hides nothing; as easy as the new silhouettes are, they require a flawless body.
Hollywood is full of those, of course, but Beckham s fans—even those with last names like Diaz, Lopez, and Moore—will probably gravitate toward the curving seams of the hourglass dresses she s best known for. Hard not to like the way they reliably hold everything in place. Among the best examples today: a shoulder-baring iridescent jacquard with ribbon straps and a Cadillac pink double crepe with an asymmetric neckline and a contrasting zipper in back. At the designer s request, Brian Atwood made the show s rose gold platform pumps to match her new Rolex. As for the new Victoria Beckham bags, they featured luxe materials and classically ladylike shapes, as befits a lady who knows her way around a Birkin.