Untested in the fashion world, Victoria Beckham launched her VB label in 2008 in New York, across the Atlantic from her native Britain.
A decade on, she will exhibit at London Fashion Week for the first time on Sunday, in a triumphant homecoming of sorts for a now widely-respected designer and entrepreneur.
The ex-Spice Girls singer oversees an empire comprising four clothing lines, more than 400 retail outlets in over 50 countries and offices in London and New York.
At the outset Beckham, a longtime fashionista, faced a daunting challenge: convincing a competitive and demanding industry that she could make a lasting impression on fickle fashion fans.
Seizing the opportunity to surpass her status as a pop star and the original footballer's WAG -- meaning wives and girlfriends -- she has gradually earned widespread recognition, even from fashion luminaries such as Karl Lagerfeld, the creative genius behind Chanel.
"Many saw her as just another example of a celebrity wanting to have a fashion range with no formal fashion training," Andrew Groves, a professor of fashion design at the University of Westminster, told AFP.
"Through hard work and determination, she has proved those early critics wrong."
