David Beckham wants you to smarten up and wear a suit
We spoke to the footballer turned entrepreneur about his first co-designed collection with BOSS, that viral bodywear campaign and the evolution of his style
By Nick Pope
WHEN DAVID BECKHAM put pen to paper on a creative partnership with BOSS in 2024, he was confident that the details had been hammered out. This was to be a long-term project built on genuine collaboration and, most importantly, very nice clothes. Little did he know that there was an elephant in the negotiation room, too.
“They were nervous about asking me to get back in my underwear at fifty years old,” he laughs behind orange-tinted glasses over video chat, recalling the bodywear campaign that tore through the internet in January. Eventually BOSS mustered up the courage, and Beckham – no stranger to a revealing photoshoot – was game. Next thing you know, he’s walking around a skyscraper in his boxers and smouldering out of billboards the world over.
But we’re not here to talk about that. In fact, I’m speaking to Beckham today as part of an international roundtable dedicated to an altogether more modest collection: his co-designed spring/summer debut with BOSS, which arrives today.
It’s a line-up of clothes that has been a long time in the making, the product of much back and forth. “I was excited about it purely because I don’t really have the time to actually do what my wife does,” says Beckham, referring to Victoria’s eponymous fashion house. “I have a lot of other things going on, and I so respect what she does. She’s over every single detail, she’s over every single garment. I wanted to do that, but with the help of a powerhouse”.
The former footballer had curated a BOSS collection back in October for autumn/winter 2024 – but this time around he co-designed the whole thing. You can take a look at it all here.
Beckham was adamant that they make the kinds of clothes that would easily slot into his everyday wardrobe; what he refers to as classic clothes with a modern twist. “I want to be able to feel that it’s me,” he says, as something of a mission statement. There has been some healthy disagreement, but mostly they’ve landed on common ground. “It’s what people have seen me in, or will see me in. I want to design a collection that I want to wear. Thankfully, we have.”
The double-breasted blazer – a classic cut exclusive to the collection – is arguably the statement piece so far. But the spring/summer offering encompasses knitwear, outerwear, denim and a broad range of accessories – including a baker boy hat and, eventually, another piece of trademark headwear that stretches back to his Galáctico days. “Everybody knows I love a beanie,” he chuckles.
It’s all reflective of Beckham’s long style journey, one that has been documented by the paparazzi, football fans and fashion magazines for decades. “I obviously was a little bit more daring when I was 20 years old to what I am now,” he says, nodding to the headline-grabbing outfits of his youth. Nowadays he’s graduated into timeless, smart casual pieces, with a preference for navy and browns, and that’s a running theme throughout the collection. (Having said that, “there is the odd pink t-shirt in there” – and anyone who’s seen the home kit of Inter Miami, the US-based football club Beckham co-owns, will know that it’s one of his favourite colours).
That kind of personal touch isn’t just important to Beckham – he sees it as the key pillar to his success. “Everything I do, I feel that I do with authenticity. And I think that’s why people like either the things that I do on social media, or the things that I wear, or my haircuts, because it’s very authentic,” he continues. “And I think that’s what we’ve done with the collection.”
When asked for his go-to piece, he can’t quite choose. First he mentions the oversized trousers, but eventually he lands on it. “I’ve been wearing the double-breasted navy blue suit a lot recently. That’s one of my favourite pieces that we’ve done. It’s very classic.”
If Beckham had it his way, we’d all be suiting up on the regular. When he was invited to a white tie state banquet at Buckingham Palace earlier this year, the men’s dress code was tails. “And honestly, I said to Victoria: I wish people dress like this in London to go to work,” he says. “I miss people walking around and really making a real effort […] I wish people would go back to the 50s and the 60s in London, where everyone wore suits or tails or hats. You know, I love that style”.
That very morning, in fact, he was talking to one of his sons. They had an important meeting coming up, and Beckham had a simple piece of advice: “Don’t turn up slouchy. I’m going to give you a suit, and you’re going to wear a suit and be presentable”.
Okay, so you might not be able to borrow one of David Beckham’s actual suits. But now you’ve got the next best thing.
Check out our picks of the BOSS X Beckham spring/summer collection here.
This story originally appeared on Esquire UK.
Related:
How Boss made an iconic fragrance darker, richer, and even better
