There are few references to Geri Halliwell in Victoria Beckham’s forgotten style bible, That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, Heels, and Everything in Between. That is likely because Posh Spice had little time for her bandmates’ Top of the Pops-style experiments with clothing. This is, after all, a woman who preferred her little black “Gucci” dresses – often purchased from Miss Selfridge – to not be fronted with a jingoistic tea towel; a woman who sidelined solos for catwalk spectacles during the Spice Girls’ 2007 reunion tour, and whose laser-focused dedication to style gave rise to a luxury label that now operates during Paris Fashion Week and dresses celebrities at the Met Gala.
There is, however, a small allusion to Ginger Spice’s influence on Victoria Beckham’s approach to fashion. “Geri of the Spice Girls had her own dos and don’ts,” Beckham wrote. “One of which I will never forget: don’t let it all hang out.” That’s a directive Halliwell continues to adhere to in 2024, dressed as she always is in buttoned-up and presidential whites. Much like the roll-neck, ankle-length skirt and tweed jacket she wore last night to Dior’s 2025 cruise presentation – the pop star’s first appearance at a fashion event since stalking the cameo-laden L’Oreal catwalk in 2019 – which Maria Grazia Chiuri had suffused with all the ancient girl powers of Mary Queen of Scots. (A certain descendant of whom Halliwell once kissed during a charity gala for the Prince’s Trust back in 1997.)
Though Ginger has made brief appearances in her erstwhile bandmate’s post-Spice world – see: Halliwell tottering down the Fashion for Relief catwalk in 2010, sitting on the front row at Viktor & Rolf’s spring/summer 2011 and Vivienne Westwood’s spring/summer 2010 shows, and the tropical-print Versace dress she actually wore before Jennifer Lopez – the keys to the industry’s most vaunted institutions have historically been granted to just one Spice Girl. These days, Halliwell seems more likely to release a line of whitening detergents – I would use – than a high-end fashion brand, but her presence at Dior’s Highlands escape was a welcome reminder of a motto she has spent an entire career trying to coin: “Even Watford girls wear pearls.” Victoria Beckham could print that on a slogan tee.