On a recent episode of Aspire with Emma Grede, host Emma Grede sat down with Victoria Beckham to chat about everything from “Brand Beckham” to sharing some insight on her daughter Harper’s much-speculated plans to launch her own skin-care brand.
The former Spice Girl revealed that Harper came to her two to three years ago, struggling with her skin. “She used to have beautiful skin, but then, like all young girls, she was enticed by certain beauty brands, and she was putting a lot of product on her face that was not suitable for her skin,” she said, adding that it led to a visit to the dermatologist because “her skin was really, really bad.” It was something she could relate to: “I suffered with child acne, teenage acne, adult acne. I mean, every acne under the sun; I’ve been there.”
Harper’s response to the experience wasn’t just frustration. She put together a PowerPoint presentation for her mother—two, actually—one a pitch for a perm, the other a case for creating her own brand. “She genuinely had a point of view,” Victoria shared. “She didn’t want other people to struggle because she saw what she had done with her skin.” Harper’s reasoning was simple: “I really want to create a brand because I know what I want, what I can’t find, and I don’t want other people to have to go through what I have been through.” Victoria noted that they did, however, table the perm conversation.
Victoria described the presentation as products Harper had collected—“things that she liked”—but that still fell short of what she needed. It wasn’t surprising given how long Harper had been immersed in the beauty world. “Ever since she was tiny, she sat on my lap. She loves products, she loves formulas,” Victoria said. “She’s even helped me select colors sometimes when I’ve been working on color palettes.”
During the conversation, Grede shared that she could relate to Harper’s story. “I would go to Boots, and you’d try all the things—it was like Clearasil or some other thing that would just strip your skin,” she said. “As a Black girl, you’d wash your face, and you’d be gray, and it would just strip all the oils out of your skin. It would be literally the worst.” She also added that she once dreamed of creating something better herself, but “sadly, I didn’t have the type of mother that would give that two seconds of thought, nor could she.”
When Grede directly asked if Harper would launch a brand, Victoria said, “I think she probably will.” She was clear, though, about her own approach and noted that the 14-year-old is still in school. “If I can support her dreams and her passions like I can the other kids, I want to do that. I think there’s a difference between supporting, as opposed to pushing.”
