Acing the Awkward Side of Beauty
Review of Victoria Beckham Spring 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Awkward Beauty, Made to be Worn, Considered Construction
Victoria Beckham’s Spring 2026 collection found its footing in the sweet spot she is increasingly making her own: clothes that are awkwardly beautiful, imperfect in ways that feel deliberate and unexpectedly powerful. From the permanently creased tailoring which jutted away from the body, to her bonded trapeze plaid shirts, and wire-hemmed playsuits she conveyed a sense of naivety drawn from her reflections on growing up and the relationship she had with clothes, as well as the influence of her teenage daughter – who is now 14 – and is herself starting to experimenting with clothes. Each silhouette seemed to suggest an awkward teen playing dress up in someone else’s closet. Backstage, she described this as a kind of “extreme wearability,” garments that are never about creating a spectacle for the wearer, instead they’re embedded with nostalgia and an off-kilter elegance. This season she looked to films like The Virgin Suicides and Romeo and Juliet for their iconic costume design, and the effect they had on her slightly left of centre creative output for next spring.
The experimentation with bonding fabrics and exaggerating shapes gave the collection a strong thread of cohesion. Simple slips and camisoles — garments often loaded with ultra-feminine connotations — were reworked with crinoline, wires, and pressed textures, transforming them into something much more subversive than their original intent. Speaking backstage she said “I just love a slip dress. I love how they feel. They are obviously, very feminine, and there’s something very childlike about them. But the way that we’ve constructed these slip dresses, they’re so considered, we’ve used crinoline to really exaggerate the shapes”. A ‘code’ which she also talked about developing over the seasons was the use of wires to exaggerate shapes, elevating “wearable garments”, as she insisted “everything I put on the catwalk is to be worn” something not always considered by her peers. One area where the bonding of fabrics to create stiffer silhouettes worked particularly well was in the oversized plaid shirts. In place of the classic button-down, were exaggerated trapeze shirts that are going to look particularly good at retail. Beckham’s styling choices, from brogues to cowboy mules, also emphasised the casual nonchalance she’s trying to curate with her brand, forgoing the predictable and creating a uniform for the alternative fashion girls everywhere. Chloë Sevigny during the height of her popularity in the 90s would have been a VB girl! These are pieces that reject predictability in the most compelling way, she explained that the atelier is constantly challenging itself to innovate with new techniques — even to the point of hand-spraying feathers in her back garden tent — a testament to her determination to elevate the everyday. Pushing craft into the casual arena is where Beckham’s avant-garde potential is to be found most daring, hinting at a new way to consider what constitutes femininity today, that could, in time, set her apart from her peers and drive broader brand recognition in terms of signature silhouettes, not just for the designers surname.
In the midst of her standing-room only shows during Paris fashion week Beckham’s work still feels under-appreciated, her creative instincts flying under the radar in an industry that loves nothing more than a designer brave enough to push the boundaries. While her tailoring has become a distinct signature, her casual pieces remain conversation-starters which deserve their place in amongst the most experimental of designers but have not yet found their way into the cultural, or even fashion zeitgeist. She is paying her dues, season after season, layering craft into clothes that resist easy categorisation. Spring 2026 may not mark her breakthrough, but it reveals a designer unafraid to embrace awkwardness as beauty, and whose potential lies not in perfection, but in the imperfections, she continues to celebrate.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
I’m always looking at what my brand codes are, and as much as we want to expand and try new things, with new techniques, I’m still considering what I am, who I am, what my customer wants, my brands DNA, and trying to expand on that with technique, with exaggerating silhouettes.
Victoria Beckham, Creative Director, Victoria Beckham
THE WRAP UP
Victoria Beckham’s Spring 2026 outing underscored her growing confidence in acing awkwardness, where creased tailoring, wired hems, and trapeze shirts gave everyday pieces an refreshing twist. Drawing on naivety and nostalgia — seen through the lens of both her own youth and now of her teenage daughter’s . Yet, for all the inventive bonding and exaggerated silhouettes, Beckham still feels like she’s hovering in a space of unrealised potential, especially in her casual-wear, which hints at a breakthrough that is soon to come.
