Lara Barrio Joins Victoria Beckham as Design Director
LONDON — Lara Barrio has joined Victoria Beckham as design director, and her debut collection will be for pre-spring 2023, WWD has learned.
Barrio was working most recently at Chloé, and before that served as head designer at Salvatore Ferragamo, working with Paul Andrew.
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She held a similar title at Acne Studios, where she worked for more than three years. Before joining Acne, she worked for Loewe.
Barrio is understood to be in the process of building a team at the London-based Beckham brand, which has undergone a reorganization and repositioning over the past year.
Beckham has consolidated her fashion offer under a single Victoria Beckham label.
Under the new strategy, the Victoria Victoria Beckham and mainline collections were blended, with a new average price point of around 550 pounds, compared with the 900 pounds of the old mainline collection.
The company has also been working on sourcing, supply chain and manufacturing to ensure that the quality of the collection remains the same.
The new-look Victoria Beckham collection made its debut for pre-spring 2022. Beckham plans to showcase four collections a year, following the seasonal calendar.
The overall offer, in terms of stock keeping units, is down by about 30 to 35 percent, while more denim, jersey, shirting and casualwear has been added.
The brand will debut its made-in-Italy handbag line next week in Paris. The bags are in leather and fabric, with the new VB logo, and range in price from 490 pounds for the small version of the bucket bag to 1,350 pounds for the rectangular frame bag with a thick, sporty shoulder strap.
Beckham has brought in a dedicated accessories designer, Raphaelle Hanley, and has built an in-house team to manage production and supply chain.
According to the latest figures on Companies House, turnover fell 6 percent to 36.1 million pounds in the 12 months to Dec. 31, 2020, while losses after taxes nearly halved to 8.6 million pounds from 16.6 million pounds.
Losses declined in 2020 due to the group’s “rapid response” to the effects of the pandemic, according to the Companies House statement. The company said it controlled its cash and expenditure, which led to a 57 percent reduction in its operating losses to 6.8 million pounds.
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