By: Suzy Menkes of the Herald TribuneA metallic zipper slicing a satin ribbon, a sporty cape-sleeved top over a slender gown and a dress short and perky enough to banish the image of a silver screen goddess - Victoria Beckham moved her collection forward by shifting from salon to daylight.
"I can see myself doing the dishes in this," said the Spice Girl-turned-designer, in an ironic comment on an apron front to her signature long, lean silhouette.
Showing in a suite at the Waldorf Towers - and entirely out of the shadow of her soccer-hero husband, David - Beckham gave a running commentary Sunday on the 35-piece collection, where her notion of practicality is that you can actually wear a brassiere under the dress.
"It is really flattering and a great silhouette - but the embroidery makes it feel quite modern," the designer said of a dress with chenille velvet embellishment on one shoulder.
Referring to a skirt breaking into fullness at the rear, she said: "It is nice to have volume at the back - it makes it really floaty."
A train puddling over the floor on a dress surely destined for the red carpet may not be for "every woman," although the designer calls it "dramatic in a subtle way." But Beckham has succeeded in creating a collection in her own image with playful gestures and with a sense that, unlike most celebrity lines, she would be proud and pleased to wear every piece herself.
