Since springing from the mid-’90s female id that was the Spice Girls, Victoria Beckham has made a career of self-invention. Once a well-to-do suburban British teen who pleaded with her father to drive her to school in his work van instead of his Rolls, she became “Posh,” a hot pop property identified by the very pedigree she once shunned. The persona—that blend of cold insouciance and smoldering wouldn’t-you-like-to-know glamour—became a shield, first as an excuse for a shy, unconfident singer to opt out of vocal solos and some of her fellow Spices’ cheesier dance moves, and later as a paparazzi defense tactic. From behind that carefully constructed veil, she’s given us Victoria, the footballer’s wife, the hands-on mother, the walking brand, and—as the fashion world has increasingly come to see her—the conqueror.

When she walks into her ELLE photo shoot in Hollywood, the 37-year-old Beckham is dressed in what passes in her world as mom-duty ease: a slouchy, asymmetrical black knit Helmut Lang sweater, sprayed-on dark denim, and six-inch patent Louboutins. (“Super casual and comfy,” she says.) On her hip is three-month-old Harper Seven, her fourth child and—finally!—first girl with husband David. A quick costume change later, Beckham is in mogul mode: a cherry red, drop-waist wool dress from the inaugural collection of her new mid-price dress line, Victoria, Victoria Beckham.