Victoria Beckham covers the October issue of US Vogue looking stunning and glamorous while wrapped up in a woolen coat.
Instead of giving the magazine a regular old interview, VB took the opportunity to write and publish a letter to her younger, fame-seeking self, and it gives and personal and intimate insight into her anxieties.
While she may have gone on to be one of the most famous pop stars of all time, a wonderful mother and a celebrated fashion designer, Victoria says she was once a lonely dance student with “acne” who was convinced she was “plump”.
Teenage Victoria in her dance school days
I know you are struggling right now. You are not the prettiest, or the thinnest, or the best at dancing at the Laine Theatre Arts college. You have never properly fitted in, although you are sharing your Surrey school digs with really nice girls. You have bad acne. You think the Principal has put you at the back of the end-of-year show (in a humiliatingly bright purple Lycra leotard) because you are too plump to go at the front. (This may or may not be true.)
Victoria goes on to reveal romantic and heart-warming details about how she first met her husband of 17 years, David.
Learn more about football, especially the offside rule. And yes, love at first sight does exist. It will happen to you in the Manchester United players’ lounge – although you will get a little drunk, so exact details are hazy. While the other football players stand at the bar drinking with their mates, you will see David standing aside with his family. (He’s not even in the first team at this stage – you are the famous one.) And he has such a cute smile. You, too, are close to your family, and you will think how similar he feels to you. He’s going to ask for your number. (He still has the London-to-Manchester plane ticket on which you wrote it.)
And, known for her quick wit and sense of humour, she also poked fun at her vintage Spice Girl style, adding that she doesn’t regret any of it despite her high fashion status these days.
You are going to have so much fun with your clothes – PVC catsuits; chokers that say absurd things; weird spiky blonde hair. It will never occur to you that you appear ridiculous. You will turn up at awards ceremonies resembling a drag queen. But I look back at you and smile. It will add interest to your life to go from one extreme to another. I love the fact that you will feel free to express yourself. Fashion will take on added stature one day, but try not to be stifled by it. You will learn, as you mature, to swap heels for Stan Smith trainers, minidresses for crisp white shirts. And you will never be one of those people who just roll out of bed.
The full letter will be published in the October issue of Vogue.
