Victoria Beckham’s designer debut confounds New York fashionistas

Victoria Beckham (pictured, left, with Jennifer Lopez at Marc Jacobs' show) has surprised the cynics after unveiling her first fashion collection at New York Fashion Week. The capsule collection of just 10 styles is based on Posh Spice's own personal style - and appears inspired by at least one of her favourite designers, Roland Mouret. The select group of buyers and editors who viewed the dresses in the Royal Suite of the Waldorf Towers declared them to be "desirable", "classy" and "beautiful". Moreover, with only 400 dresses being made in the first season, they have also started wrangling over who will stock the collection.

The Guardian's Jess Cartner-Morley called the dresses "immediately recognisable as signature Victoria Beckham". Posh insists she designed the entire collection with no assistance from Mouret or anyone else, but given that she has no design training, there was much speculation yesterday about who might have helped her achieve such a high standard.

Hilary Alexander of the Daily Telegraph described the collection as "surprisingly modest" with an "almost prim attitude with all hemlines ending at least three inches below the knee and some of the bow-neck, blouse-bodices having an almost governess feel".

However, as Beckham explained, these styles could always look more sexy with the bow undone, "like David [Beckham] undoing his bow-tie at the end of an evening." Ideal customers, she said, would include Nigella Lawson and Dame Helen Mirren.