Victoria Beckham's Hair

There are certain celebrities who are, for whatever mysterious reason, held up as 'style gurus'. . You can't escape them as they permeate the media like a noxious miasma. Whether we wish it or not, we are forced to take note of their shoes, outfits and in some cases, especially their hair. Former spice-girl turned fabulously wealthy, professional celebrity. Victoria beckham, is one of them. She is of course one half of a power couple, the other half being the equally pretty star soccer player David Beckham.

Victoria's hair has been through many transmutations over the years - a deep-seated fear of becoming 'stale' has meant she is unable or unwilling to settle upon one style for any major length of time. In fashion terms, an A-list celebrity must keep moving, changing and metamorphing in order to keep ahead of the trends. The most fatal mistake a tabloid Queen can make is to be perceived as old fashioned. Anything but that.

As they say in the celebrity bios, Beckhams rise to fame was 'meteororic' - meaning it was a short trip from obscure Briitish teenage scrubber to International woman of style. Thanks to the intense and thorough marketing of a mediocre all-girl band in the 1990s, a young Victoria was able to pull herself up from the crowd and become a mega-star.

Victoria's persona and fashion credentials were established early, when she was given the appellation "Posh" during her time with The Spice Girls, evidently becuse of her love of high fashion and a penchant for publicly flaunting her style superiority.

An icy-pole stick thin figure, pouty lips,retrouse nose, olive skin, a genuine love of clothes and unlimited funds have all conspired to help cement Victoria Beckham's reputation as a leading light of the media fashionista; but it's really her hair that has created the most controversy, and stirred fthe strongest feelings, either of admiration or criticism, depending on where you stand on this issue. Her hairstyles have graced many a suburnhan salon's window and have been emulated by fans from Indiana to Indonesia.

Victoria Beckham knows what she wants..what she really, really wants and lets her hardresser know. Over the years she's had a variety of styles and such is her level of confiidence, she hasn't been afraid to experiment with the new and unusual...

Back in her Spice Girls days, Victoria favoured this one-length simple dark bob and as she seemed to have a lot more flesh on her face then, it worked.

The Spice Girls were formed in 1994 and released their forst single "Wannabe " in 1998, which, amazingly hit number one in thirty countries around the world. Thus the five Spice Girls, Victoria, Melanie B, Melanie C, Jerry and Emma became what is known as a "global phenomenum".

The group disbanded shortly after Jerry Halliwell bailed out, claiming "exhaustion" in 1998. Spice Girls continued for a while without her but the momentum had dissipated, so they all went their own way; Victoria into the arms of David Beckham and International celebrity.

After a post-Spice Girls period of wearing short, sometimes spiky, funky styles, during which time she lost an inordinate amount of weight, Victoria oprted for long, wavy, romantic hair via hair extensions. David and Victoria colour-matched their hair in cramel brown/blonde, so as not to cuse any unnecessary fashion clashes when snapped by the paparazzi.

The tumbling locks spurred on the hair extension trend, which is now a salon standard, albeit an expensive one.

The Posh Bob

The Posh Bob has arguaby been Victoria's most successful hairstyle yet. Certainly it's been the most photographed, as well as the most copied.

The dramatic and asymetrical lines of the cut suited her strong features and she went blonde for this one, which intensified the sporty, pert look of the style.

hairdresser's everywhere had to fmiliarise themselves with this particular cut as hoards of wannabe's made their way to the salon asking for this one and actually it is quite a flattering style for most women.

Victoria didn't spend too long wearing this classic pixie/urchin look as it proved to be a little uninspiring.

The look is dramatic but too many celebrities have gone the ultra-short route before for this style to make any splashes and some stylists suggested it was just a tad too dark in colour, making Victoria look a bit swarthy. On Haile Berry this looks great but on Victoria...?

Despite this, Victoria's hair fashion cred is apparently enough to inspire copyers, whatever style she wears.

At the time of the cut, in 2008, there were reports in the beauty rags that salons were inundated with requests for the "Victoria Beckham Pixie Crop", though it's hard to know itf this is truth or more media hype. You just never know...

This trendy, razored cut hasn't proved quite as virally popular as The Posh but still successful. Two emphatic points of hair at the front balance out her features nicely and add interest to what would otherwise be a fairly standard bob. The style was evidently emulated by other style-conscious celebrities, notably, Eva Longoria and Britney Spears.

While the dark brown locks don't look quite as dramtatic as the pale blonde, the effect is warmer and more natural and the soft tones suit her natural skin colour...or rather her natural, fake-tanned skin colour,

In 2011, victoria Beckham is back to hair extensions and a romantic look again, though with a style subtler and hipper than that of her earlier lush, long-haired period.