Victoria Beckham plans UK store while juggling family and fashion

LONDON: British fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham said life as a working mother is a struggle but she relishes the challenge and plans to expand her empire with a retail store in London.

As mother to three boys - Brooklyn, 14, Romeo, 10, and Cruz, 8 - and to 21-month-old daughter Harper, Beckham said balancing her family life and career was a constant juggle.

“The children are my priority and always have been and always will be so it's a little bit of a juggling act,” she told the Vogue Festival at London's Royal Festival Hall on Sunday.

“I really enjoy being a mum, I love my kids more than anything, but I love doing what I do as well and it's just getting the balance right which is not easy, at all.”

With her second son Romeo appearing in the latest Burberry campaign and football star husband David Beckham fronting an underwear campaign for H&M, 39-year-old Beckham is busy.

But she said she was keen to build further on her success in fashion with plans to open her first retail store in London.

“This is where I want to have my first store ... I'd like to do something that is really new, really fresh. Something a little bit conceptual but not too much,” she said without giving any more details.

Beckham, who made her name as pop singer Posh Spice in the 1990s British all-girl band, entered into fashion in 2004 with American denim brand Rock and Republic, co-designing jeans, skirts and knitwear before launching her own line in 2006.

As a model she has also appeared in campaigns for designers Marc Jacobs and Dolce and Gabanna.

She introduced her Victoria Beckham collection of dresses in 2008 which was well received by the fashion industry and is now a regular fixture on the New York Fashion Week circuit.

Beckham, whose designs are worn by actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway as well as singer Beyonce Knowles, said she wanted women to be empowered and confident in her clothes.

“A lot of thought goes into everything I design to make a women feel the best that she can feel,” she said. “Women are always going to feel a little bit insecure. There is a lot of pressure on women to look a certain way and I want to help women feel good about themselves.”

Beckham's comments on body image came ahead of a debate on body size at the festival where models Daisy Lowe and David Gandy shared their experiences of working in fashion.

Earlier this month British Vogue magazine signed a 10-point agreement with trade union Equity to ensure that models will not work more than 10 hours a day and to ensure their working conditions in a studio or on location are healthy.

This comes as part of a wider initiative by the fashion industry to encourage a healthier approach to body image.

In February, the Council of Fashion Designers of America issued new guidelines at New York Fashion Week to stop the use of underage and underweight models from walking the runways.

“I think it's important for women to not just focus on the fantasy and the ideal, but actually what is right for themselves because everyone's bodies are different and all of them are beautiful in their own way,” said Lowe.