Formerly known to the world as Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham has turned her bubblegum fame into bonefide celebrity. It doesn’t hurt that she married an international star athlete, but her sense of style has solidified her status as a fashion lightening rod. Among a slew of celebrity fashion lines, hers is one that’s actually has some critical success. The masses, however, will rarely have a chance to assess Beckham’s sartorial offerings, considering the average cost of a dress is about two grand.

But now Beckham is trying to reach those masses where it counts (their wallets).

With her burgeoning dress business in its fourth season, the Spice Girl-turned-designer has taken her denim and eyewear collections in-house, and has overhauled and renamed each. The new styles will make their debut Wednesday on Net-a-porter.com and at a few select stores. She also has cooked up two artistically chic short films for the occasion that will be shown exclusively on Net-a-porter for a week, and last month redesigned her Web site, victoriabeckham.com, from top to bottom. Her personal appearances will be ramped up in the months ahead, with one at Bergdorf Goodman during New York Fashion Week being a key cameo in February. Television viewers also will get to see the name behind the brand when she tests the talent as a judge on “American Idol” next month. WWD.com

While I don’t expect that these jeans and eyewear will exactly be blue light special prices, it’s clear that most design houses make the real bucks from the more accessible range of $200 to $400. Still a pretty penny, but how many wannabe fashionistas have you seen sporting some designer logo-laden pair of shades with their Old Navy tank dresses?

Designer fashion jewelry for Fall 2009 has a lot of textile elements – so much so that i’m sure their already inflated price tags are especially exorbitant for a bunch of braided cloth and died feathers. I’ll admit, though, the feathers are cute. Can’t wait to check out the knock-offs.

photos: style.com

Fashion fiends, feast your eyes upon this bounty of leather and hardware. When it comes to fashion accessories, there’s no season like fall season! So secure your piggy banks, trust funds, salary bonuses, and sugar daddies cause these beauties DO NOT come cheap. Trend note: a lot of stingray in the mix. Enjoy!

photos: style.com

While your average jane is only just now getting her hands on the latest spring styles, the hardcore fashionista is already looking ahead to what hot for fall. This year will see the usual perennials, but there are a few obvious standout trends. In handbags, studs galore. See examples from Coach, Diane Von Furstenberg, Jimmy Choo, Miu Miu, Roberto Cavalli, and VBH

photos: style.com

Some dope has taken a perfectly good design concept and ruined it with a racially insensitive name. Here’s a description from the Slanties Website:

slanties are based on ancient Inuit eyewear. Each pair of slanties is handcrafted. Our light, durable finish shows off the natural wood grain. slanties are engineered to be sturdy and reliable, and each pair is reinforced with a layer of fiberglass. If cared for correctly, your slanties will last for 800 years. Wear slanties on the beach as functional sunglasses. Wear Slanties to the club. Wear slanties to visit your grandparents, they’ll love them too. We hope that each pair will bring you great happiness.

It’s too bad, because I think these could have been a viable product. Maybe not at big as Ray Ban, but possibly big among the trendy set. But the makers lacked proper marketing insight. Good riddance.

Spotted at Racialicious

Chanel & Eternamé

Hervé Van der Straeten

Marni

roger vivier

taher chemirik

tom binns

versace