Creative director reveals sexy vamp side of ex-Spice Girl

One Singaporean calls Janet Jackson and Cindy Crawford his dear friends.

Mr Kenneth Goh, creative director of Harper's Bazaar Singapore, also recently shot British pop star-turned-fashion designer Victoria Beckham for the fashion magazine's September issue, which is out on Friday.

Passion for his craft is what he credits for turning these Hollywood celebrities into believers, and then pals.

For example, to bring out Beckham's inner sex goddess, he came up with the idea of showing her in a boudoir setting, as though she was playing dress-up in sexy lingerie for her football superstar husband David.

In May, Mr Goh - who has been making waves in the fashion industry for the last 20 years - scored a photo shoot with 39-year-old style icon Beckham just days after David announced his retirement from the game.

Mr Goh, who flew to London to style the former Spice Girl, told The New Paper: "The brief for the shoot was to show a sexy, more personal side to Victoria.

"Suitcases of designer lingerie were brought in to transform her into a sexy vamp.

"'Imagine you are having a dirty weekend with your husband'," the photographer, Ellen von Unwerth, had told Victoria to an incredulous look of shock."

The six-hour shoot took six months to realise after he first approached Victoria last December.

Mr Goh, who's in his 40s , revealed that top security was called to the penthouse suite of the Corinthia Hotel and everything was well-prepared, right down to the exact brand of coconut water that Victoria likes to drink.

He said that it was quite a feat pulling off styling the A-list celebrity.

For one, she doesn't wear sample size shoes - her size is the European shoe size 37 - so they had to scour for more than 200 pairs in her exact size.

Six suitcases of clothes and more than three trunkfuls of lingerie were prepared as well. In the end, only six outfits were used.

On the concept for the shoot, he said: "I think it's important to show the softer, more vulnerable side to Victoria. "Everyone knows how successful she is, and how she never smiles! I wasn't about to try the impossible, but I was trying to see the more intimate side of Victoria."

At 10am, the classy mummy appeared on the set with her adorable two-year-old daughter Harper.

Mr Goh said that Victoria, who is 1.63m tall and weighs 52kg, played the vamp to perfection.

During breaks, she would chat with her sons on the phone. Describing his day with Victoria as "manic , intense and exhilarating", he also had a funny anecdote to share about meeting the fashion powerhouse.

Said Mr Goh, who had worked at magazines like Lime, 8 Days and Elle before joining Harper's Bazaar Singapore 10 years ago: "I remember Victoria asking me what colour I was wearing on my lips, and when I said I was wearing none, she immediately said, 'I love your (natural) lip colour, it's so nice. I wish I had that colour!'"

cchar@sph.com.sg

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