There was a time in the not-so-distant past when fashion was considered living room entertainment: back when Trinny and Susannah were categorising women’s bodies into fruit shapes, and Gok Wan was encouraging worn-out mothers to “put a belt on it” on prime time television. America’s Next Top Model was at its peak; Ugly Betty and The Devil Wears Prada were banking millions; and entire school trips’ worth of children were being taken to Birmingham trade centres for The Clothes Show Live. Meanwhile, the high street and all of its designer collaborations – Kate Moss’s beloved line for Topshop and Giles Deacon’s erstwhile New Look offering – was reaching its zenith. It was these people, these films and these products that functioned as spirit guides between fashion’s traditional gatekeepers – magazine editors and luxury designers – and everyday consumers, translating the glamorous hinterland documented on Fashion TV for regular folk at home.
These are the cultural circumstances from which Victoria Beckham’s long-forgotten style guide, That Extra Half an Inch, arose: a 400-page book that was first published in 2006 and includes a specific brand of nostalgic, Cosmo-girl prose: think, “cleavage-tastic”, and, “find me a woman who doesn’t love accessories!” and, “smellies”. Then a professional WAG with a denim line, Beckham assumes a been-there-done-that, mercifully unPR-ed tone of voice. “I have no qualifications to write this book other than a lifelong passion, which, combined with the extraordinary way in which my life has turned out, has given me the chance to wear some amazing clothes,” she says in the opening pages. “There are people out there who only wear clothes ‘because you have to’, or ‘because it’s cold.’ Be warned: this book is not for them!” she writes. “Fashion is how we express our personalities. Our way of saying, ‘This is who I am,’ sometimes even, ‘This is who I would like to be.’”
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In other words, this book is a true pop culture time capsule. Just how much Victoria Beckham contributed to the ghost-written guide is unknown, though her comedic turns of phrase are an ambient presence: she thinks carrying heavy luggage around an airport will make one arm longer than the other, and recommends skinny jeans as the perfect outfit to wear on long-haul flights to ward off deep-vein thrombosis. Much of the advice she offers focuses on how to accentuate and hide parts of the body – avoiding the “flat bums” that certain trouser silhouettes create, for example – which is something fashion journalists have generally learnt to move on from, even if most people still shop for their shape. “I’m not a six-foot tall model and nor am I a pin-up for men,” Beckham insists. “In most respects I am very ordinary: smaller-boned than average, perhaps, but normal height, normal face, normal hair: the girl-next-door who got lucky.”
As Victoria Beckham celebrates her 50th birthday, here are 50 life lessons from That Extra Half an Inch that have aged almost (almost) as well as VB herself. “Because as every woman knows, that extra half an inch makes all the difference…”
1. Choose your icons
Educated in a stage school, Beckham said she had it drummed into her that grooming was everything from an early age: nails, hair, make-up, it all had to be perfect if you wanted to land that all-elusive gig as a member of the swing in a West End ensemble. Back then, she was just Victoria Beckham, but she had hinged herself on the eternal allure of classic fashion icons, like Grace Kelly, Jackie Onassis and Audrey Hepburn.
2. Second hand doesn’t mean second class
Don’t get it twisted: Posh Spice came about because of Beckham’s physical architecture only – the bob, the heels, the little black Gucci dress that was, in fact, Miss Selfridge. She said she still has that mini, despite it being worn to death, recommending that it’s best to make smart purchases on things that will last. Nothing, she states, is more expensive than something you wear just once. Second hand is not a synonym for second class, as anyone who has discovered vintage will understand.
3. Never hire a stylist
Beckham has never worked with a stylist – unless its for magazine shoots or her own label’s collections – and she never will. She makes it clear that she doesn’t want someone else to have all the fun. She is the author of her own look, much like when she was 14 and her mother would let her loose in C&A.
4. Put the boobs away
Beckham abides by the time-worn adage: legs or cleavage, but never both. In fact, it was Geri Halliwell that first schooled her fellow Spice Girls bandmate on this, imploring Beckham to “not let it all hang out”. Fashion, she says, is about feeling sexy and not inducing a riot.
5. Cut the label out
Much of Beckham’s fashion advice comes from surveying other people’s mistakes. She’s seen people squeeze into too-tight jeans for the sake of claiming ownership on a smaller dress size – but to what end? Cut the label out if wearing a size up leaves you feeling insecure. You’ll soon forget whatever number was printed onto that bit of fabric, she reiterates, when you realise how fantastic you look.
6. Never wear matching leather outfits
Of all Beckham’s supposed faux-pas, the most cringe-inducing – by her own admission – was turning up to a Versace party with husband David in matching Gucci outfits.
7. Treat your jeans like a Wonderbra
Remember: the primary function of a pair of jeans is to uplift your bottom with all the infrastructure of a Wonderbra.
8. Do (or don’t) channel Kate Moss
Beckham says Kate Moss can get away with some things that others just can’t – like sporting skinny-fit jeans and flats – so it’s best not to whittle yourself to someone else’s blueprint. She does, however, think that Moss is a leader in date-night fashion: simple vintage dresses and hastily-done hairdos. “Easy and fabulous!”
9. Do not flash your knickers
Among the various fashion grievances that Beckham outlines is being photographed falling out of Chinawhite with a G-string poking well above the waistband. “I don’t mind a bit of lingerie showing,” she says, “like a pretty bra strap under a vest top, or maybe even a peek underneath a dress or shirt (very Dolce & Gabbana), but that is very different from bending over in Piccadilly Circus and showing your thong.”
10. Be more Gordon Ramsay
An unexpected fashion hero emerges in Gordon Ramsay – who Beckham says will visualise a complete meal before putting all the ingredients together. She believes it’s best to take this approach to building an outfit, too: thinking about the end product and figuring out what bag will go with which dress, how one should style the hair and so on, so you have a clear roadmap from the offset.
11. Take a high-low approach
Though Victoria Beckham actually hired her sister to do most of the high-street research for this book – she, of course, could not be photographed exiting a Tesco herself – she does encourage readers to purchase their basic pieces from affordable brands, while spending a little more on tailored pieces where the cut matters more. “With persistence and a keen eye you can often get lucky in scoring a drop-dead gorgeous outfit on the high street,” she wrote. “The high street is just fantastic for day dresses!”
12. Emancipate the collar bones
At this point we know that Beckham is not a fan of cleavage for cleavage’s sake. Best to liberate the collar bones, instead, which gives the same impression of bareness without being clichéd and obvious.
13. Avoid prints like the plague
In Beckham’s world, someone’s everyday clothes should whisper as opposed to shout. Imagine the horror of being caught wearing the same thing over and over again? Well, that’s a little more likely when you’re dressed in an attention-seeking print. Plain, block colours will allow you to recycle your wardrobe as much as you like – and few people will notice.
14. Don’t always listen to your mother
While Victoria Beckham decided to break with mother Jackie Adams’s “no horizontal stripes” rule – posing for Ellen von Unwerth in a marinière sweater dress for the cover of this fashion bible – she counts her mother as one of her most foremost fashion icons. (She still refuses to eat beetroot for fear of it staining, though.)
15. Consider yourself a milkmaid
Look around this magazine’s headquarters in the Adelphi and you will see countless milkmaids in capacious Doên dresses – which Beckham might have approved of should 2024 be 2006. She said she likes billowing bell sleeves that are cinched in at the cuff to give someone’s arms a willowy appearance. “It’s one of those looks that girls love and boys just wonder why we’re trying to look like milkmaids.”
16. Put a belt on it
In the tradition of just about everyone else in the mid-Noughties, Beckham reiterates a desperate plea for women to nip a belt over men’s shirts and extra-long knits to give the illusion of an hourglass silhouette. She said she often does the same with David’s sweaters during the summer months.
17. Borrow from the boys
She’s fuss-phobic – preferring men’s shirts to women’s blouses – for a sexy, clean and sharp appearance. She knows Dolce & Gabbana and Yves Saint Laurent pretty much invented this unbuttoned, pencil-skirted look and recommends a waistcoat as a fantastic way to “sex up” a pair of jeans.
18. Tracksuits are to be worn in private
Much like Karl Lagerfeld, Beckham feels a natural aversion to tracksuits. Great for “slobbing around” the house on Sunday mornings, but heinous for photographic occasions.
19. Leave miniskirts to the tweens
The question of whether to wear a miniskirt or a long A-line iteration, Beckham says, tends to settle itself with age.
20. The sexy secretary is an always sexy look
It was 2006 and so, at that point, Victoria Beckham had never met a pencil skirt she didn’t like. She said these silhouettes hold everything in, giving a “gorgeous” shape to a woman’s figure, and are much subtler than G-strings falling out from low-waisted jeans.
21. Dress like Carrie Bradshaw
Beckham makes frequent reference to Carrie Bradshaw throughout the book, describing her approach to fashion as spellbinding and inspirational. “The way she put together her own outfits was totally original and fabulous,” she said. “Like herself: beautiful, but in an unconventional way. Best of all, Carrie dressed for herself: she knew that she looked great and she was having fun. Who cared that some of her boyfriends didn’t get it?”
22. DIY your own clothes
Another hard-to-believe truth is that Victoria Beckham once made her own clothes: stitching elastic into straight-legged jeans so they would mould to her burgeoning bump during her pregnant months. She said she also made her own skirts out of tasselled and vintage shawls for holidays with David.
23. Visit Azzedine Alaïa’s atelier
A little more believable is that Victoria Beckham recommends heading to Paris and visiting Azzedine Alaïa’s workshop.
24. Fashion is tragic
At one point, Beckham lays bare one of fashion’s most uncomfortable truisms: that looking effortless is, in fact, code for ‘This outfit involved a lot of thought’. “Ironic don’t you think?”
25. Plan your outfits in the bath
Necessity is the mother of all invention and Victoria Beckham – a mother herself – learnt to multi-task: planning her outfits while taking baths.
26. Shop for clothes in supermarkets
Victoria Beckham could not have written a book for the masses without mentioning the supermarket fashion scene. She likes Tu at Sainsbury’s and thinks George at ASDA makes “fabulous” day dresses, but her favourite is – apparently – F&F (aka Florence and Fred at Tesco).
27. Use a Gucci carrier bag as a school satchel
Nothing speaks more to Beckham’s relationship with clothing than when she toted a Gucci shopping bag as a school satchel as a kid. “I loved that bag and carried all my school books around in it for ages until the bottom of the bloody thing fell out completely,” she said. “But it just goes to show how you can personalise your look with some of the most unexpected accessories!”
28. Don’t be an office clone
If you have made it this far – thank you for boosting this website’s time-spent targets – you will begin to see a number of very subtle Cinderella metaphors emerge. At one point in the book, Beckham says there is real pleasure to be had in looking down at your feet and seeing some fabulous heels. That might be a “Cinderella complex”, but she recommends that corporate women tug up their trouser legs when forced into a dull meeting and look at their shoes in order to reassure themselves that they’ve not turned into some drab office clone.
29. Always go shoe shopping at the end of the day
Do not – by any means – shop for those aforementioned heels before 12pm. You need to give your feet a chance to “expand”, Beckham says, that way you won’t end up buying a pair that are too small.
30. UGGs should never be seen in public
Beckham said she wrote this book while wearing a pair of UGGs… but she would never be seen in them outside.
31. Beware of the hunched-over walk
A then-recent convert to the wedge heel movement, Beckham warns against their weight, which can so often inspire a dreaded, hunched-over walk. “You’ve got to be careful with platforms as they can make you look like you’ve got cement blocks around your ankles,” she said. “And have been captured by the Mafia and are being sent to sleep with the fishes.”
32. Kitten heels are never okay
An absolute no: kitten heels. “I think a lot of women see them as the wearable compromise to high heels,” she said, with an emphatic tone. “When in fact they have none of the benefits of high heels yet also none of the casual ease of flats. But most of all, they make your feet look bigger: they emphasise the feet by having them pointing down. There is nothing wrong with big feet, but in this case they will look out of proportion to the rest of your body.”
33. Manolo Blahnik always
Victoria Beckham – much like Carrie Bradshaw – is a firm believer in the gold standard of a Manolo Blahnik heel. She said she was rendered “star-struck” when she met the designer at a New York event in the lead up to writing this book.
34. Use your Fendi bag as a diaper bag
Having spent hours of practice, Beckham dedicates a paragraph to educating fellow mothers on how to accommodate a nappy, baby wipes, a credit card and lipstick into a small Fendi baguette. (It’s all about careful rolling techniques.) Just because someone has birthed a child does not mean they have to start carrying plastic-coated bags!
35. Channel the Queen
To that point: Beckham will often opt for a clutch, which she will just “jam up” to her elbow like the Queen.
36. Avoid logos
The only logos that Beckham could stomach in 2006 were those belonging to Louis Vuitton and Fendi, thinking all the other brands to be a little too flash. At this point in the book, she urges women to wean their husbands off logo-emblazoned £400 T-shirts. Unless, of course, they happen to be “cool, vintage ones”.
37. The bigger the sunglasses, the better
There is a practical reason for Beckham’s life-long commitment to major sunglasses. “I don’t always have time to put on the Touche Éclat in the mornings.” Instead, she will throw on some Chanel shades, which as the magazines of that era were wont to repeat: hide a multitude of sins.
38. Cowboy hats are made for the beach
Prefacing the so-called “cowboy core” movement, Beckham recommends wearing a wide-brimmed Stetson in lieu of a traditional beach hat – although she does warn against the “eau de sweaty cowboy”, which so often comes with purchasing vintage.
39. Don’t ask a man for their opinion on clothes
With the exception of perhaps Roberto Cavalli – see here for more on that – Victoria Beckham thinks most men will say whatever a woman wants to hear in order to rush them while getting dressed. Best to solicit a woman for constructive fashion opinions, or failing that, children, who will be brutally honest with theirs.
40. Never go to a party without safety pins
One of the best anecdotes that Beckham shares revolves around the time she attended Elton John’s white tie and tiara ball in 2005. Dressed in a Ming vase-inspired gown, she remembers begging Roberto Cavalli’s atelier to make the dress so tight that she’d need to arrive at the gala in a horse box. The zipper sadly burst open when Beckham went to the toilet. That is, until Joss Stone made an appearance with a handful of safety pins, suturing the back of the dress in a moment of haphazard panic.
41. Bribe your bridesmaids
Victoria Beckham asked her sister to be a bridesmaid in 1999, but Louise considered herself too old to play the role of doting fräulein, and so the bride-to-be bribed her with a Chloé dress. “Just a thoughtful gesture.”
42. Festive clothes are for children
The horror of wearing a 3D reindeer jumper on Christmas day! “Only children should wear clothes specific to an occasion.”
43. Don’t make style choices while pregnant
In 2006, Beckham – who made a point to remind readers that she nobly wore stilettos throughout her pregnancies – was adamant that people should not make drastic changes to their physical appearance whilst expecting. The hormones, she said, might lead someone into a hair salon. But post-birth that same person will see their reflection and think: “What the bloody hell did I do that for?!”
44. Crop tops are a no-go
Another no-go is crop tops, which Beckham said look “even worse” when someone is pregnant. She thought it left the bump – and therefore the baby inside – unprotected and vulnerable.
45. Don’t wear underwear sets
Beckham doesn’t understand the brouhaha around matching your bra to your knickers. “This is what I said to a fashion magazine a while ago,” she wrote. “You’d have thought I said the world was flat for all the fuss it caused.” She duly had other things to think about – a fledgling denim line, for example – than whether her bra might be properly coordinated with her knickers.
46. Too much make-up is the worst mistake you can make
Much of this book is spent reconsidering the style choices Beckham made during the Spice Girls, among them the choice to “plaster” on foundation to cover the signs of stress and fatigue. “Your make-up just gets thicker and thicker and your hair gets bigger and bigger and you just end up looking like the creature from the Black Lagoon. Putting too much make-up on – whoever or whatever you are – really is the worst mistake you can make.”
47. Don’t trust celebrities
This book might have been written by a famous person, but readers should be careful about the advice they heed. Beckham said she had spent small fortunes on going to celebrity-recommended nail salons in the United States only for them to snap off the ends of her fingers the following day.
48. Befriend Donatella Versace
This is the precise kind of advice I want to glean from Victoria Beckham: get yourself invited to a Versace show in 1997 and stay the night at Donatella’s “amazing” palazzo on Lake Como. Of course, Cinderella Spice could hardly turn up in a little black Miss Selfridge dress, and so thankfully Donatella Versace – a sort of fairy godmother figure in this book – waved her wand in the direction of the Versace flagship in Milan and granted Beckham with an unlimited spend.
49. Don’t be an ugly sister
Victoria Beckham considers the great British tradition of the pantomime to be an annual opportunity for people to come together and poke fun at fashion. “The biggest laughs come from the ugly sisters,” she says. “Or rather from what they are wearing.” The clothing might be exaggerated, but what the genre does lay bare is the thin line between trying too hard and becoming the butt of the joke: being stylish and fashionable are not the same thing.
50. Trust your voice within
I will leave this one in Victoria Beckham’s own words: “Listen to your inner voice,” she says in the final sentences of this book. “Not to the comments other people might make. No one knows better what makes you feel good about yourself and look fantastic. So take a deep breath, keep your head up and just walk down that catwalk.”
