The second episode of the three-part Netflix documentary about Victoria Beckham, the former Spice Girl and current wife of the soccer legend David Beckham, delivers a cheeky message: “Kill the WAG,” its title screams.
Throughout the heavily curated, often promotional documentary, Ms. Beckham traces the arc of her transformation from ’90s pop star to luxury fashion designer, via stints as a solo singer, a mother and the pre-eminent member of the unofficial club of wives and girlfriends of athletes, better known as WAGs.
What she wanted to do through her fashion label, it seems, was divorce herself from many of the labels foisted on her. And by relinquishing some control of her image — she has said that she had no editorial sway over the documentary — she is hoping you see her in a new light.
Members of the Styles team gathered to discuss Ms. Beckham’s design philosophy and the explosion of the rise of documentaries as branding exercises. Their conversation has been edited and condensed below.
VANESSA FRIEDMAN I ran into Victoria at an event a few years ago, just after the documentary about David was released, when there was a lot of talk about how well she had come across onscreen. I asked her if she had a similar series in the works. She said, Absolutely not — that she was more interested in still pictures and images she could control. Then: presto! She did make her own show. Do you think she was right to change her mind?
ALISHA HARIDASANI GUPTA The documentary did lift the veil a little on her, and that’s refreshing. I think with David’s documentary, with the focus on him, it was easy to forget that at the start of the relationship she was the bigger pop culture icon. And this documentary does do a good job at showing how she transformed her identity after Spice Girls, which none of the other women have fully managed to do.
FRIEDMAN For me, what really came across in this doc was the sheer power of Victoria’s will. She really is her own creation, both physically and professionally. Though it also seems pretty clear that the goal of the series was to portray her as a legitimate designer.
HARIDASANI GUPTA Is she not a legitimate designer, in your view?
FRIEDMAN Of course she is. She is not the kind of designer who changes what people wear, or creates new silhouettes. She is the kind of designer who puts her own spin on what is happening in the broader conversation.
I think the documentary accurately reflects the fact that when she started, the fashion industry viewed her with great suspicion and snobbishness — for obvious reasons. The Spice Girls were more mass than high style. But she was very smart and strategic and charming about her own profile when she began.
HARIDASANI GUPTA I found it so fascinating that amid and perhaps because of all that suspicion of her, the credit for her early collections went to a man, Roland Mouret.
FRIEDMAN I remember sitting in those rooms as she talked everyone through her collections — and, in the end, did make us all eat our preconceptions. So kudos to her.
KATIE VAN SYCKLE I feel like this type of film is becoming its own genre — the autobiographical documentary — which is partly an advertisement for the subject’s brand and partly a vulnerable overshare.
The subjects getting the treatment are pretty wide-ranging, and include, to some degree, “Aaron Rodgers: Enigma,” “aka Charlie Sheen” and even “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.”
FRIEDMAN It’s certainly a thing. And there is a strategy to what you show. It’s OK, for example, to talk about all the problems with your business after you have solved them. I did think hearing about her early mistakes — spending 70,000 British pounds on plants for the office, for example — was interesting, because it suggested to me she was going through the motions of creating the look of a designer business as she had experienced it as a consumer, rather than actually building the business.
MINJU PAK I mean, we are living in the age of promotional documentaries, photo shoots, and red carpets, so watching this is like watching a very stylized, very contrived, very controlled set.
VAN SYCKLE Vanessa, do you think she has stepped out of the box of celebrity turned designer? Will her design work have an enduring appeal?
FRIEDMAN I think she wants to create a fashion legacy, but what she has really created is a legacy in self-actualization. I would argue that’s as valuable. There could be a whole course taught in that, with her as the object of study. I don’t think you could teach a course on her body of design work. But honestly, watching her come together as a character is more compelling TV than watching someone design a dress.
VAN SYCKLE Which reminds me — she and David seem happy?
PAK They have an easy rapport. Happiness is more complicated.
HARIDASANI GUPTA It came across as a swoony romance for sure.
PAK But I will say they are a very watchable, compelling couple onscreen. There is an ease and a likability when they are together.
FRIEDMAN I think they should have their own reality show. I would watch it in a heartbeat.
Vanessa Friedman, Minju Pak, Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Katie Van Syckle contributed reporting.
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