The one World Cup fashion rule that Victoria Beckham never broke
The one World Cup fashion rule that Victoria Beckham never broke
Lydia Spencer-ElliottWed, June 17, 2026 at 5:00 AM UTC
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Micro shorts and a Hérmes Birkin. Victoria Beckham's 2006 World Cup fashion wasn't subtle – but it was undeniably memorable. So much so that as England ready themselves to take on Croatia in this year's tournament twenty years later, hers are the only Y2K looks that the internet wants to look back on and recreate. "She was the blueprint," one woman wrote on TikTok under a slideshow of VB in the stands this week. "Can't spell WAG without swag."
Today, "WAG" is a divisive term, one that many football fans have taken issue with, pointing out that women amount to more than the sportsman they've hitched their wagon to. Victoria, a Spice Girl who had global stardom and success before she ever stepped foot in a football stadium, embodied this message – and her fashion choices reflected it too. "She never wore his jersey," one fan on social media pointed out.
The unnamed "he" in question is, of course, Sir David Beckham, who, alongside his teammates, crashed out of the 2006 tournament after losing on penalties to Portugal. "He married her, not the other way around," one fan argued, while another theorised Victoria didn't feel the need to wear her husband's shirt because "she was her own person".
This, mind you, is the woman who was photographed wearing stilettos in a swimming pool in 2006. It's unsurprising, 20 years later, that you still can't find a photo of her wearing a boxy England jersey online.
The "WAG" style remembered and most frequently added to moodboards today is often her alternative: a loud red "England rocks" vest top with white micro shorts and knee-high boots, or a white England three lions vest with matching tracksuit bottoms, a white trucker hat, huge diamond studs and face-obscuring sunglasses.
'She never wore his jersey': Beckham has gone down in fashion history for her alternative approach to an England shirt (Getty)
Victoria's World Cup wardrobe culminated in a fashion manual released that October: That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything in Between (co-written by journalist Hadley Freeman). "There are people out there who only wear clothes 'because you have to,' or 'because it's cold.' Be warned: this book is not for them!" the 400-page book warned.
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"Fashion is how we express our personalities. Our way of saying, 'This is who I am,' sometimes even, 'This is who I would like to be,'" it preached.
Who, or rather what, Victoria wanted to be, as was outlined in her self-titled three-part Netflix documentary, was accepted and celebrated as a fashion designer. Her mentor, the designer Roland Mouret, said that for this to happen, they had to "kill the WAG". Victoria complied: "I buried those boobs in Baden-Baden," she said. "I became a simpler, more elegant version of myself."
Ironically, as clean girl aesthetic fatigue sets in, even after the seismic popularity of Carolyn Besette Kennedy's re-created wardrobe in Love Story, high fashion is now imitating the exact style Victoria had to divorce herself from to be taken seriously: MiuMiu has microshorts; Fendi and Gucci jumped back on board with huge sunglasses frames.
Big glasses, bigger bag: Beckham has been credited as creating the 2006 WAG wardrobe (DDP/AFP/Getty)
The culture is crying out for bigger heels and even bigger handbags: no more visibly so than on the French National Team: Les Bleus forward Ousmane Dembélé and midfielder Rayan Cherki both arrived in Boston with gargantuan Hermès Haut à Courroies, which David Beckham also toted at Paris couture week (wonder where he got that idea).
Marcus Thuram stepped out with a green oversized Chanel flap bag (from a 2019 Pharrell collaboration that now costs around £11,000) that would have made 2006 Victoria teeter on her Louboutins and keel over.
No woman – or man – should be boiled down to how they dress. But, Victoria Beckham's influence on football fashion culture has had significant longevity. From the pub gardens to the players themselves, expect to see more WAG-coded wardrobes as the summer continues.
Source: “AOL Sports”
