[gentle music]
- I'm Victoria Beckham,
and I am the creative director
of my own brand, Victoria Beckham.
- Hi, I'm Edward Enninful.
Welcome to this Vogue Visionary session,
where we'll be talking about what inspires us,
the route it took to get here in the fashion industry,
and we'll be giving you lots of advice
on how to succeed in your industry.
[gentle music]
First question I have for you is:
What's your earliest fashion memory?
- My earliest fashion memory would be
when I was very very young,
and I used to watch my mom getting ready.
My mom used to really take a lot of pride
in the way she dressed,
and it was more, more, more of everything.
- Oh- - Bigger shoulder pads,
bigger hair. - Old school, yeah.
- Exactly.
It was a time when she was wearing
Christian Dior Poison, the perfume,
which was such a heavy fragrance.
And it was a lot, but it was inspiring,
I was very young,
and I just used to look up to her
and dream of the day that I could wear the fragrance
and the makeup and the clothes.
- Who made the styling decisions in the Spice Girls?
- I am not taking responsibility for those
big Spice Girl shoes. [Edward laughing]
And I'd say to the girls
"I did used to take up the budget."
- You took all the budget?
- Yeah. [Edward laughing]
It was fantastic.
[Edward laughing]
'Cause their shoes were from that shop,
do you remember Buffalo?
- Yes.
- Like Carnaby Street.
- I remember the big purse. - Yeah.
And they just used to get them all for free.
- And you were in Tom Ford.
- Totally.
- What are some of your favorite
fashion moments from that time?
- There were times when we were so tired
that the more tired we were because of all the travel,
the more makeup we wore,
and the bigger the hair got,
and the shorter the skirts,
and the higher the heels,
we would just overcompensate.
So I don't know if that was one of my fondest memories
or if it was myself and David
turning up to a Versace event in matching Gucci leather.
Wearing the wrong style- - Designer.
- But you know, owning it.
- Yeah, you have to.
Are you ever tempted to look back
at those moments on YouTube?
- Listen, everybody wants to show me them,
and everybody wants to know what I think of them.
Back then, I didn't know,
I didn't know any better.
I didn't know the fashion industry.
And so there was something so sweet and-
- Naive. - Naive about the fact
I didn't care,
I just expressed myself in that way.
That's what's so great about YouTube,
anything that you wanna watch,
it is so easy to find.
It's the most incredible archive.
- Yeah.
- So, Edward, who are the first people
that got you into fashion?
- Oh my God, well that's easy.
The stylist, Simon Foxton,
who discovered me on a train when I was 16, to model.
The photographer Nick Knight,
who introduced me to i-D Magazine.
Terry and Tricia Jones,
who owned i-D Magazine at the time.
And a little bit later, Franca Sozzani from Italian Vogue.
- Can you recall some of your earliest looks
from when you used to model,
and are there any of those pieces
that you still wish you owned now?
- One of my favorites was a tweed suit
with sort of short plus fours, as they call them.
I wish I kept those.
I think they were by Christopher Nemos.
Remember Christopher from way back when.
So, no, I didn't keep anything from those days.
I wouldn't fit them anyway.
- Are there any looks from then that you regret?
- A tight black muscle top,
a red leather necklace, blue cycling shorts.
I couldn't get away with it now.
[Victoria and Edward laughing]
[gentle music]
When did fashion design occur to you as a possible career?
- Do you know it was always something that I wanted to do.
It was always a passion of mine
just because I, what I desired I couldn't find out there.
And so it wasn't until quite a long time after
I finished with the Spice Girls
that it was a real possibility,
but it was always a dream and a passion.
- What are the first steps you made to make it happen?
- Well I was friends with Roland Moray,
at the time we were managed by the same person,
and Roland mentored me.
He was never involved on the,
with the design side of things,
but he introduced me to a team of people
that could support me.
And so he really was the reason why I'm here now.
He was so kind and generous with his time and his advice.
So it was Roland really that,
that gave me the tools to turn a dream into a reality.
Edward, when did you realize
that this was going to be your career?
- I remember stepping on my first photo shoot
as a model with Simon Foxton,
and he dressed me
and I went out,
and I saw the photographers,
I saw the other models,
I saw the sex,
and I swear in that moment I knew
this was going to be my world.
I didn't know in what capacity,
but I knew that was it.
What's been some of your biggest learning curves
as a businesswoman?
- You know, I used to think if the product is good
then that is enough to be successful,
and what I realize is that there's a, there's a
there's a big machine,
there's a lot of people,
a big team that have to all be in place
to make it a success.
It's not just about the product,
it's about the team.
It's about the finance team,
it's about the logistics team.
There's quite a lot of unsexy, shall we say,
roles that are so important
to make something a success.
- So what would you tell a young designer starting out?
- I would tell a young designer to work for another brand.
Learn, keep your eyes open.
- Learn.
- Keep your ears open,
and just learn while somebody else is,
is paying the bills, if you like.
It's a big responsibility to have your own brand,
and to just learn from other people in the industry
and be a sponge.
Get inspired and just learn, learn, learn.
- Technology and the internet
has changed everything in fashion,
how do you use platforms like YouTube
to connect with your customers?
- You know, I love the fact that I can
get directly to my customer and my community
so very, very quickly.
I can have fun as well,
I can show personality.
I'm checking that the children are all out bed.
Kirk, I'm getting crazy.
Someone just asked me
if this was a [indistinct] on my t-shirt.
I said "It's a flower,"
as if it would be.
And the fact that we don't rely so much now on the media
to tell the story,
we can tell it ourselves through the internet,
which I think is very powerful.
I can live stream my, my fashion shows,
I can use YouTube for beauty tutorials,
where I can collaborate with other artists.
So it's very, very important,
and it's very accessible for my customer.
- YouTube's given us more reach.
Before the reader had to go to the news stand
to sort of pick up the magazine,
and now they can connect with a magazine online.
It's all about community.
- So, Edward, what role can Vogue play
in promoting sustainability?
- We promote sustainability every day.
My motto really is buy better, buy less.
So when I say buy better I don't mean just expensive,
just buy things that last
that you can pass on Harper,
that you can pass on to new generations.
You know that one piece that will last you.
So I really believe in that, buy better, buy less.
That's what we say at Vogue.
Buy one Victoria Beckham clothes-
- It's gonna last.
- Buy better, it's gonna last,
I like that.
- Victoria, you've achieved so much in your career,
what's left?
- I have so much ambition,
so much drive,
I'm just scratching the surface,
not just with fashion,
but with beauty as well.
So I dream very, very big, I work hard.
And I believe the sky's the limit.
I believe in creative visualization,
and there is so much more I want to do.
Edward, you have just published
your fantastic memoir,
and completed five years at British Vogue,
what is next for you?
- I mean I really love what I'm doing right now,
I love working at British Vogue.
I love work with the European Vogues,
and all these incredible young editors we have
in Spain, Germany, Italy and France,
and everyday I learn something new.
So long as there's still creativity in what I do
I'll be here.
- I think what you should do next is learn
the languages of all those Vogues.
- Different countries.
- I'm gonna tell you what Edward's gonna do next,
he's gonna learn to speak Spanish, French, German-
- [Victoria And Edward] Italian.
- That's what I'm gonna do.
- In your spare time, when you're not writing books
or editing.
- I have so much time now
I'm gonna take up four languages.
Amazing.
- You just need to get the audio books.
- That's it.
Apparently it really works.
Somebody I know learned to speak French in one year.
- Well there you go, it should only take you four years
to learn all of the above.
[Edward laughing]
Better get going.
[gentle music]
- So, Victoria, what are you proudest of as a designer?
- Having had a success at Paris Fashion Week
is such a big deal for me.
For three years we haven't had a show,
we've been restructuring the business
and the design team,
and the Atelier,
and to have that comeback moment in Paris-
- Roaring success.
- That's a big, big, big deal.
And that has been my dream for longer
than I can ever remember,
so that's my proudest moment so far.
- [Edward] And the show was incredible, it really was.
- Thank you, thank you.
And, Edward, what are you proudest of
in your career to date?
- I'm proud that I've been able
to put out work over the years
that's really resonated with so many people,
and I'm also really proud
that I've contributed to an industry
that's really inclusive and diverse.
Is there anything you'd do different?
- I said if I am lucky enough
to come out of this pandemic and do a show,
I want to really, really enjoy it,
because in the past when I was doing the big shows
I was so stressed,
and you work so hard,
and you don't sleep,
and you drive yourself crazy
about all the little details.
I mean I think people would be
very, very surprised if they saw the amount of work,
and the attention to detail
that goes into creating a collection and a show.
And that's what I did this time around,
I fully, fully enjoyed it.
So for me moving forward it's about working hard
and being honest and true to myself,
but really, really having fun
and living in the moment,
being present as well.
What piece of advice would you give, Edward,
to anybody that wanted to become a fashion editor today?
- I would say learn your craft, see how it's done.
I feel like a lot of stylists start
and editors start,
and they think they'll make it straight to the top.
You need to really learn.
I always say you learn as much from the failures
as the successes.
So really learn your craft.
If you could tell your younger self one thing,
what would it be?
- I always struggled when I was younger,
I was never very popular,
I was quiet insecure,
and I always had to work really, really hard.
And so I would tell my younger self
everything's gonna be okay,
just keep working hard, stay focused
and have fun and enjoy yourself
because it's gonna be okay.
- Thank you very much, Victoria.
Thank you for watching the second series
of Vogue Visionaries.
Don't forget to go to YouTube
to watch all the episodes.
- Excellent.
- Thank you.
[gentle music]