10 Throwback Pics Of Victoria Beckham's Iconic Wardrobe During Her WAG Era

Victoria Beckham is one of the few A-listers who can say that she's achieved household name status through various avenues. Her first claim to fame was as Posh Spice, one of the music icons of the '90s. In the 2010s, she rose to prominence once more thanks to her fashion label Victoria Beckham, which has come to hold its own against other heavyweights in the industry. But in the midst of all that, she also became internationally recognized for her marriage to David Beckham, making her a soccer WAG. During the years of their relationship that he was playing, from 1997 to his retirement in 2013, Victoria cultivated a signature WAG style.

After the Spice Girls broke up in 2001, Posh took the aesthetic of a '90s pop star with her, and these turn-of-the-millennium silhouettes defined her WAG image at first. But like a chameleon, Victoria Beckham transformed her style as the years went on. "I'm always developing what I want in my wardrobe and I think it's important that evolves, so you don't get stuck in a rut, shall we say," the designer told Harper's Bazaar in 2020. Her iconic WAG style in the early noughties involved color and plunging necklines, but became significantly more experimental in the second half of the decade. Once Victoria debuted her own fashion line in 2008, she worked hard to shed the image of a former Spice Girl, embracing edgy accessories and latex finishes that became part of her WAG look while David was still playing. 

These days, Victoria Beckham the brand is known for high-end looks that work the street just as well as they do on the runway. There's an innate sophistication to the fashion house, and the designer really leaned into this while she was still a WAG.

In 2001, Victoria Beckham left the Spice Girls behind, shifting into her WAG era. Though this was the new millennium, the pop star was still sporting looks from the '90s, including a black halter set she wore to the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes. Between the cropped halter and the hip-hugging low-rise black slacks, this 'fit was core '90s, and totally in character for Mrs. Beckham at this point in her life. We'd see her style transform over the years, but it took a while for her to switch from '90s pop star to Y2K WAG.

Halters were a '90s mainstay, and they followed Victoria Beckham into the noughties. In June 2001, she attended the Silver Clef Awards in London, England with husband David Beckham, wearing a sheer white halter top. She paired this with matching white pants which featured geometric cutouts in the hips. With her pop star past not far behind her, Victoria's WAG style leaned heavily into turn-of-the-millennium sultry silhouettes like this, but the monochrome tone was a hint at one of the style moves that would become her signature over the years.

Looking back at Victoria Beckham's WAG style, it's clear that she preferred form-fitting garments to anything oversized, the latter of which only made its way into her wardrobe in the 2020s. She was the queen of corsets in the '00s, as we saw at the MTV Movie Awards in 2003. Twinning in crisp white with David Beckham, Victoria rocked a Dolce & Gabbana shapewear-inspired frock with sparkly silver piping. The lace-up number featured spaghetti straps and an ultra-tight fit, which were key characteristics of the Spice Girl's noughties style.

Over the years, Victoria Beckham's relationship with bright colors seems to have ebbed and flowed. We've certainly seen her in iconic neutral suits and LBDs, but during the mid-2000s, she went through a vibrant tonal phase as part of her WAG era. In June 2004, she attended a performance of "Swan Lake" at London's Royal Albert Hall, donning a colorful floral dress with a seriously plunging neckline. Though the bottom of the midi was already form-fitting, the fashion designer cinched her waist with a creamy gold belt and completed the look with a dark-red clutch.

Victoria Beckham's love affair with color continued through 2005, when she attended a Prince's Trust event in Monte Carlo, Monaco that October. Her bright blue-and-green Roberto Cavalli gown was strikingly similar to another green-toned dress we'd seen a few years before: Jennifer Lopez's iconic Versace Grammys dress. This number was giving the same risqué vibes with its daring thigh slit and torso cutouts, not to mention the bold low neckline. It didn't receive the same hype as J.Lo's gown, but the look was a shining example of Beckham's mid-noughties colorful and seductive aesthetic.

In the second half of the noughties, Victoria Beckham evolved towards the fashion it-girl she's regarded as today, experimenting with her signature aesthetic. Moving away from the blingy and colorful, she instead explored the blending of stiff, corporate-coded pieces and maximalist accessories. Photographed in New York City in 2006, she dressed up a simple white shirt and gray slacks with three unforgettable pieces: leopard-print shoes, a leopard-print handbag, and a latex girdle-belt hybrid. Squeezing nearly her whole torso, the latex material and waist-cinching fit would continue to feature in her WAG wardrobe as it underwent an edgy makeover.

Victoria Beckham's makeover from pop star to cutting-edge designer was well underway by July 2007, when she famously cut an A-line pixie and dyed it platinum blond. Her wardrobe was still churning out boundary-pushing accessories and silhouettes at this time, but monochrome remained part of her WAG aesthetic. She joined David Beckham at a conference in Carson, California wearing a bubblegum-pink midi with military-style capped sleeves and a standout Birkin bag, aka the Hermès staple fashion piece. The remnants of her inner '90s pop star had well and truly faded, leaving behind a more sophisticated Victoria.

Fashion-wise, 2008 might have been Victoria Beckham's most important year on record. She launched her Victoria Beckham label, so making waves with her own style was essential. For the Beckham Signature fragrance launch in New York City that September, she went for a body-hugging gray mini and paired it with latex thigh-high boots. The boots would have made a statement even without the heelless wedges. In 2008, Lady Gaga hadn't even made this avant-garde style popular yet, so they were a testament to the designer's vision, as well as her evolving personal WAG style.

Victoria Beckham's outfit at the 2007/2008 Chanel Cruise show in Santa Monica, California was a classic example of her experimental WAG style in the later noughties. Black and latex were staples, but she made a relatively simple outfit edgy with a collection of loud accessories. Once more, she went for a girdle-style latex belt around her middle, topping this with a Chanel chain belt that fell around her hips. A pop of color came in the way of a cropped mint blazer worn over a capri-length body suit, and she finished the lewk off with T-bar pointed heels.

By January 2009, Victoria Beckham's WAG style had done a complete 180. She'd traversed halters and hip-huggers, bright color and plunging necklines, and her cutting-edge latex period, landing on the sophisticated style we now associate with her brand. Victoria reached the height of this aesthetic at Milan Fashion Week with a red midi and matching heels. A few years away from David Beckham's retirement, Victoria was officially ready to close out her WAG era with a bang and carry through her newfound fashion sweet spot to the rise of her eponymous label.