Victoria Beckham’s fashion business has recently released a concerning set of accounts for the past year. Independent auditors have remarked on ‘material uncertainties which may cast significant doubt over the group and company’s ability to continue as a going concern.’
The financial statements for Victoria Beckham Limited reveal that its losses have ballooned to £4.8 million ($6.4m), requiring another substantial loan from David and Victoria totaling £6.2 million ($8.3m) to keep the company afloat.
The accounts clearly suggest that the company might face closure, although representatives for Mrs. Beckham call this notion ‘purely technical’ and downplay its significance.
But they also refer quite extensively to the forthcoming Netflix documentary about the former Spice Girl and her fashion business.
There seems to be optimism that the four-part series, streaming globally from early October, could create enough buzz to revitalize the brand’s fortunes.
And so the mystery, of course, is who appears in her show – now simply titled Victoria Beckham – and what on earth do they say?
My first bombshell is that former UK Vogue editor Edward Enninful, once her great supporter, is not taking part.
It’s all rather a surprise as the legendary Global Editorial Director of Vogue, Dame Anna Wintour, has agreed to an interview on screen.
Victoria Beckham and her husband at the National Portrait Gallery in 2019
It’s been mentioned that she holds a ‘warm’ regard for Victoria and her attempts to succeed in the highly competitive fashion industry–a notable gesture from an editor nicknamed ‘Nuclear Wintour’ for her aloofness.
But no Enninful. He, let’s remember, put Posh and her children on the cover in 2018 and hosted her at a lavish party in that year.
None of her former bandmates from the Spice Girls are in it, either.
And I can reveal that just one of her children has made the edit for the show. Which one?
Introducing… Harper. She makes a brief appearance at the conclusion of the documentary, which reportedly avoids delving into Victoria’s marriage to former footballer David and any related family controversies.
Vogue legend Anna Wintour has agreed to feature in the documentary (Pictured: Victoria Beckham with the editor-in-chief in 2012)
The choice to feature Harper alone reflects the fact that Victoria seems to be grooming the 14-year-old for a fashion role. It’s surely no coincidence that the youngster recently remarked she would like to have a ‘brand’ of her own in due course.
Although she is still at school, she posts ‘get ready with me’ videos featuring her mother’s makeup brand already.
There’s no sign of the boys – Brooklyn, Romeo (despite him being a fashion model) or Cruz (an aspiring musician). Brooklyn is, of course, embroiled in a painful feud with his parents, who seem to deeply dislike his wife Nicola.
The only other contributor who I am certain is in the mix is the designer Roland Mouret. He was a mentor to Victoria when she was starting out. The two were brought together by Simon Fuller, who at the time managed both of them.
Mouret denies the widely circulated reports that he helped her to design her first collection. (Unusually for a fashion designer, Mrs Beckham does not draw or cut her designs, but tells other people what she wants.)
The four-part documentary has been made by David Beckham’s production company, and one of the producers of the film also sits on the board of the fashion firm. You might think that is a cosy arrangement!
But get ready for another bitter feud in Posh’s life, as her former manager Simon Fuller is – quite extraordinarily – not in the show, nor is he mentioned.
That’s despite the fact that by any reckoning, he is the architect of Brand Beckham – the genius idea which made the Beckhams so rich – and the facilitator of her fashion business.
She sent him to the deep freeze on a personal level some years ago.
He remains on the board of her fashion business, however. He was an investor at the start, and it seems she hasn’t been able to afford to buy him out. Although David did manage to buy Fuller out of his company back in 2019.
There might be a lesson in all this for Brooklyn. The lady’s not for turning… once you have been scrubbed from her personal narrative, there is no way back.
Fuller is currently trying to get a Spice Girls tour up and running in some form (Geri will only do it as an avatar, the Mels and Emma want to be in person.)
Victoria is not even involved in any of the conversations and everyone in Spice World privately acknowledges that hell will freeze over before she joins a tour – especially one organised by Fuller.
A source says: ‘There is a lot of resentment still between the Beckhams and Simon Fuller.’
As for Enninful, sources say that they are still tight, even though he wasn’t asked to appear. He was at her 50th birthday party earlier in the year.
The word is that the documentary gives a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for her fashion show in Paris last autumn, and that the ‘talking heads’ give an account of her early days in the fashion business. Enninful wasn’t in charge at Vogue back then, hence apparently his not being invited.
(I hear, incidentally, that Enninful is no longer tight with another of his highest profile Vogue cover girls, Meghan Markle – but that’s a subject for another day.)
Of course, one high-profile guest at that September fashion show was Nicola Peltz-Beckham – pictured looking loved-up on the red carpet with her husband Brooklyn before the latest round of feuding kicked off.
And needless to say, she won’t be getting a cameo…
