New York Fashion Week Day Three

City-smart tailoring, neutral colours with black, white and a drop of wine red – Victoria Beckham’s New York show for Summer 2015 proved that she means business. Even the shoes – a new departure ­­– were hefty or flat, ready for taking life in one big stride.

“I’m opening my first retail store in London and that forced me to think about the evolution of my signature,” said Victoria before the show. “It feels like my woman: quite masculine, heels heavier, strict, but with flowers to perfume the collection.”

The designer, who had husband David and son Brooklyn at the show to cheer her on, was referring to the pink flower patterns that closed the collection.

Another polished effect was inserting a surprising piece among the sensible, so a onesie chequered in black and white, or an oversized boyfriend sweater with shoelace ties. But they both had the designer’s ‘I would wear it’ seal of approval.

With the Beckham name and her celebrity status, Victoria has achieved something exceptional: to build a business over eight years that does not rely on her catching attention and publicity in a sexy evening gown. There was not one single outfit intended for the red carpet, although the designer said that there were evening gowns in the “commercial” collection.

But the garments she sent out were surely also designed to sell: coats, tailored with a light hand, made in fabrics such as jute, with an interesting surface. Hemlines were often short – but also mid-calf, in knit, shadowing the hips and then kicking out below the knees. Everywhere, from those clumpy (but not so comfortable looking) shoes to the flat pink flowers, there was a sense of Victoria pushing herself forward and trying something new.

Will it sell? She is about to find out when that first store opens on London’s stylish Dover Street. But you can be sure that this smart pop singer turned business woman will be on message with her customers.