MANY years ago the idea of a Spice Girl producing a critically acclaimed line of clothing would have been scoffed at, along with accessories from Bananarama or headbands from Atomic Kitten. This season Victoria Beckham, formerly Posh Spice, was the toast of New York fashion week with her signature line and diffusion range Victoria by Victoria Beckham gaining in commercial stature. Beckham says that she had a strong interest in fashion and styling even before the Spice Girls. "I was quite an awkward teenager, I was never particularly confident with my body or the way that I looked," she told Love magazine. I used to try and play around with everything, even try and customise my school uniform. I used to set trends at school, I have to say. I did try to make the school uniform look a bit better than it actually did. Following her career as a pop singer and collaborations with denim labels, Beckham took the leap of launching her own label in 2008, instantly drawing comparisons with her body-hugging tailoring and chic restraint to Roland Mouret. "I can't quite believe I'm writing this - it was a very impressive, accomplished collection, with not a single dud," Lisa Armstrong said in The Times about the debut. True there were only 10 designs, in various colours, each adhering to the aesthetic the designer has favoured in her own wardrobe of late: slender calf-length fitted dresses with raised waists. But it was the fabrics (silk, wool and organza) and the attention to detail that impressed. In 2011, Beckam - featured six times on the cover of British Vogue - was named designer of the year at the British Fashion Awards. While living in Los Angeles to support her husband David Beckham's soccer career, the designer's aesthetic gained some athletic influences, but her recent return to Britain was visible on the catwalk in her most recent collection. Knit turtlenecks graced several outfits, including one sleek sleeveless dress that paired a plunging neckline with prim checked tweed. Hemlines were mostly below the knee. Pointy-toed ankle boots finished off most looks. Beckham, 38, maintained her signature form-fitting silhouette, but rounded out the shoulders and offered a few boxy overcoats, in grey with blue accents. Her colour palette was mainly muted, in black, grey, brown and beige, but she livened up the collection with pops of canary yellow and electric blue. You can see how everything is super-refined ... you can see the heritage fabrics that we used. We used them in a very modern, cool, sexy way," she said. Beckham said she would continue to show her collections in the Big Apple, where she started in 2008. Must Have Keep your sunglasses on because the neon trend is not going away. Australian designer Gary Bigeni has embraced pops of colour with knitwear from his most recent collection. With a black background, this jumper ($429, garybigeni.com) can be teamed with simple, slim black pants or can clash madly with a skirt in a bold print.