Victoria Beckham — Hollywood's Favorite Designer

For a fashion designer to be the name on every stylist's wish list ahead of the Oscars is the unmistakable mark of arrival. With three weeks to go before the 84th Academy Awards, that designer was reportedly Victoria Beckham.

Hollywood's elite were said to be clamoring for her gowns, with Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, and Cameron Diaz among the A-listers believed to have contacted the former Spice Girl about the red carpet. It was a striking sign of how far Beckham's fashion credibility had risen — already, her dresses had been worn by Eva Longoria, Demi Moore, Gisele Bündchen, and, twice that awards season, by Michelle Williams, who wore two pieces from her Victoria, Victoria Beckham sister label.

Beckham's camp played it straight. A spokesperson confirmed stylists had sent requests in for the Oscars, but was refreshingly candid about the limits of her small atelier: unlike the big fashion houses, they couldn't do custom-made gowns or pay celebrities to endorse the brand. "It's really a waiting game and we won't know until the night if any of our dresses will be worn."

On the night of February 26, the waiting game didn't quite land: Paltrow wore Tom Ford, Theron wore Dior, and Diaz wore Gucci on the red carpet. But Diaz did change into a Victoria Beckham dress for the Vanity Fair after-party — proof that even when the Oscars carpet eludes a designer, Hollywood's vote of confidence comes through anyway.

Sources

• Victoria Beckham 'inundated' with Oscars dress requests — Marie Claire UK
• Victoria Beckham's Dresses Are Oscar-Bound — Perez Hilton