Victoria Beckham was feted her services to fashion during a ceremony in Paris on Monday, where she was joined by her nearest and dearest.
Shortly after receiving the Chevalière de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, the former Spice Girl took to Instagram to share a slew of snaps showing her celebrating the momentuous career high.
One image picture saw her posing with husband David, 50, as she gazed adoringly at the hunk, before taking to X to thank him for being her ‘original investor’.
Victoria’s eponymous brand famously suffered problems in its early days, with the ailing company falling ‘millions in the red’ before being rescued by David.
Joining the family at the occasion, which comes a year after she spoke of her ’embarrassment’ over her failures on her documentary, was her sons Romeo and Cruz, their girlfriends, and their daughter Harper – but not estranged son Brooklyn.
In her post on X, Victoria thanked the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, for the accolade before turning her attention to her husband.
She wrote: ‘I’m so honoured to be named a Chevalière de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. I have always deeply admired the French aesthetic and the seriousness with which it treats fashion: as a form of art…
‘So to be recognised here and embraced in this way, is a profound privilege — one that reflects decades of commitment and dedication. My sincere thanks to the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati for this honour…
‘Thank you also to business partners who believed in me, my family, and especially David — my husband, and original investor. I couldn’t be more grateful, you are my everything xx’.
When Victoria launched her fashion brand in 2008 she hit headlines after frivolous spending meant she quickly began to make a loss and was forced to rely on handouts from David to bail her out.
Yet it soon became impossible for David to continue funneling money into her business, which reported losses of £66million. Her losses became notorious – with the ailing brand suffering continued downfall.
After investing millions into his wife’s brand, he later reflected on the fear he felt when he could see the numbers spiralling. He said: ‘It made me panic. I was panicked by it because I never saw anything coming back.
‘We always agreed that we would support each other no matter what but it worried me. It wasn’t sustainable.’
Victoria added: ‘There was a lot of waste, we were millions of pounds in the red. I didn’t know what to do and I was so desperate to save this business that I cared so much about. I felt like I was breaking down myself.
‘I felt embarrassed… I was in a hole, it felt like I was in quicksand.’
Despite the early failures, on her self-titled Netflix documentary, Victoria revealed the incredible way she was able to turn around her fashion brand’s fortune after David refused to continue bailing her out.
She explained that she approached businessman David Belhassen, confessing: ‘I really was desperate, not just for the money but for everything else he could bring.’
Belhassen explained: ‘Victoria was not looking for a partner that would just put in money, she needed a partner that knew the business, understood her dream and was capable of making it happen.’
However, he was reluctant to step in, recalling: ‘When I looked at the business, talked to people, I realised this was a very, very difficult situation, it was a disaster. Frankly, I had never seen something as hard as that to fix.’
As a result, Belhassen announced he wouldn’t be able to help Victoria, a move that left the designer ‘heartbroken’.
Yet Victoria’s fortunes changed due to a chance date night between Belhassan and his wife. He revealed: ‘I go out with my wife on the Saturday night and I see her – stunning! And I said: ‘what are you wearing?”
He then learnt that she was wearing Victoria Beckham and that she was buying ‘tons’ of the ‘amazing’ brand.
‘And the flame lit there,’ he explained. ‘It became like a fire. And on Monday, I gathered the team and we say ‘we have to do it, if we fail, we fail’ So we signed, and Victoria was very emotional and she told me ‘I won’t let you down.”
