She may have entered the cultural lexicon back in the 1990s—first as a member of the bubblegum-pop phenomenon the Spice Girls, then as the wife of the lady-killing soccer player David Beckham—but Victoria Beckham only truly earned her nickname when she took to the London catwalk for designer Maria Grachvogel in February 2000, sporting hot pants and a flamenco dress.

Since then, Beckham has emerged as one of the most unexpectedly serious fashion contenders in recent memory. Yes, she has been a face for Dolce & Gabanna, Marc Jacobs, and the street label Rocawear; she has walked the runway for Roberto Cavalli in Milan; and she did cause quite a stir when she posed with her muscular husband for a steamy ad campaign for Emporio Armani’s underwear line. But all that is par for the course when it comes to celebrities. It is her ever-increasing cred as a designer-entrepreneur that has lifted her above the “pop singer creates a fashion line” fray.

In 2006, under the brand dVb—a monogram, of sorts, for David and Victoria Beckham—she launched her own denim line, and later expanded with fragrance and eyewear ranges. But it was September 2008, when she debuted her Victoria Beckham label with a collection of spring dresses at New York Fashion Week, that the movers and shakers really began to sit up and take notice. She quickly forged a distinct design signature: neat-fitting, rather Roland Mouret–esque hourglass frocks, with lots of long zips and body-conscious tailoring.

Although her persona—in the tabloids, as well as when she’s representing her brand—is, well, posh, Beckham comes from a solidly middle-class background that, she has said, informed her work ethic in a very positive way. “I don’t do anything by halves,” she told The New York Times in 2010. “If you’re going to do something, do it properly, I think. Otherwise there is no point in doing it at all.” Today, the Victoria Beckham brand has flagship stores in London and Hong Kong.

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