Victoria Beckham covers the October 2025 issue of ELLE, on newsstands September 30. In an exclusive interview with ELLE Fashion Features Director Véronique Hyland, Beckham opens up about her many reinventions and her forthcoming Netflix documentary, Victoria Beckham.
She didn’t initially want to do it, telling ELLE that David eventually convinced her to. “I genuinely couldn’t understand why anybody was that interested. I love what I do, but I was a bit shocked,” she says. “But throughout the process, I’ve really enjoyed it. I love the fact that I have an opportunity to shine a light on our industry—how serious an industry it is.”
It also lets her, as she says, “reflect on the journey, and talk a little bit about the career I had before, without it being to the detriment of my brand.” After all, “I was in the Spice Girls for four years, and I’ve been so defined by that period. I’ve been in the fashion industry for almost two decades.”
After 17 years of focusing on the work and not what she calls “the noise,” she and her line are still around when so many have foundered: “It’s been such a journey…and it’s all been very public. Being the celebrity who is the brand is a double-edged sword.”
She also discusses the unwavering support she’s had from David Beckham and what she’s enjoying about aging: “Getting older is—actually, there’s a side of it that’s really great. The filter comes off, and you give a s**t less. I’m really enjoying that,” she says.
On her 28-year relationship with David Beckham and the fact that they’ve grown alongside each other: “So often in relationships, one will say to the other, ‘You’ve changed.’ Well, of course you’ve changed! You’re a different person when you’re 20 than when you’re 50,” she says. “He believed in me when a lot of people didn’t. He invested in me. At times I’ve been a laughingstock, people not taking my business seriously, but he always believed in me.”
On balancing work with filming Her documentary, Victoria Beckham: “I had to leave my vanity at the door, because every time they were following me at work, I had a job to do,” she says. “I couldn’t think about the fact there were cameras there, because I was preparing for a show. One minute we’re creating the collection, picking the fabrics, casting the models. ‘Is this the right flooring? What’s the show music like?’ There was so much going on that I had to turn a blind eye to the fact that they were there. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten anything done. I was like, ‘Guys, I’ve got a day job to be getting on with.’”
On the ups and downs of her business and being vulnerable in her documentary: Amid so much industry turmoil and so many ups and downs for her brand, her business is profitable, she tells me proudly. (As a privately held company, it does not report results.) Many designers get to go through those challenges outside the spotlight, but “when my name is on the label, then that is news,” she says. “There were rumors right at the beginning: Was this a vanity project, was my husband bailing me out?…That wasn’t about opinion. That was fact. My business was struggling.” It’s something she discusses in the upcoming documentary. “I suppose I have really opened myself up for the first time, and there’s a vulnerability there. I’ve got two more days left of filming, and then my job’s done. Over to the editor.”
On whether the documentary will inspire any more viral moments and being a more ‘traditional family’ than people realize: “Oh God, the Rolls-Royce?” Beckham says. “Even one of our children said, ‘How many times did you film that?’ We were like, ‘No, no. It wasn’t rehearsed.’” The dance was real, too: “That’s what the Beckhams do. We like to have fun. We like to spend time all together. We’re a very traditional family, much more than I think people would realize. That’s what we do. We all support each other. We always show up for each other.”
On the importance of demonstrating a good work ethic to her children: “I’ve always tried to be the best mom and wife that I can be,” she says, sticking to a 6 P.M. family dinnertime throughout their childhoods, even if that meant heading back to the office afterward. Demonstrating that work ethic to her children is important. “After my last show, I remember so vividly the kids and David coming backstage. I had just come off of my exit. And the looks on their faces when they approached me—it was a real pinch-me moment, because I saw how proud they were.” Her philosophy has always been, “It’s healthy that the children know Daddy goes to work, and Mommy goes to work. Working makes me the best version of me.”
On using social media to defrost her once-chilly image: Back in the ’90s, “there were paparazzi shots and the narratives the media was telling.” Now, people get to see the real, unmediated Victoria. “I would read those stories, and I would see those pictures of me looking quite grumpy. But there’s very much a different person inside. I think that’s another reason why David was keen for me to do the documentary, to show that. I mean, I gave up worrying what people thought about me a long, long time ago. But I love using social media to have fun, and also to explain the ‘why’ in regard to my brand.”
On when discussing the latest category for her beauty brand (complexion), she confesses that she struggled with acne from a young age: “My skin was so bad at one point, I remember my mother’s friend saying to me, ‘You couldn’t even put a pin between [the pimples].’” she says. “When I was younger, I was so self-conscious because of my skin. I didn’t even want to look people in the eye. It really affected my confidence. It can make you quite depressed.”
On her fashion beginnings: “I couldn’t afford to buy them, but I had a respect for, and an interest in, luxury.” Beckham says. “By the way, the ‘little Gucci dress’ was never a little Gucci dress. It was from a high street store, and I said it was a Gucci dress.”
Editor-in-chief: Nina Garcia
Photographer: Dan Jackson
Stylist: Alex White
Writer: Véronique Hyland
Hair: Ken Paves
Makeup: Yumi Lee and Francesca Abrahamovitch
Manicure: Rica Romain
[Photo Credit: Dan Jackson/ELLE Magazine]
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