Resurgent Victoria Beckham channels trouser suits and party dresses at Paris show

There was strictly no mention of estranged son Brooklyn, missing from front row The Beckham empire is a tangled web of family and fortune. After her Paris fashion week show on Friday evening, Victoria Beckham talked backstage about Tamara de Lempicka, the Polish art deco portrait painter from whose palette she took the glowing colours and sinuous lines of this season’s coral and jade party dresses. Strictly no mention of the other story of the night – the absence of her estranged eldest son, Brooklyn, from a front row packed with the rest of the Beckham clan. The designer’s husband, David Beckham, brought her a fortifying glass of red wine as she spoke to reporters. “I relate to Tamara de Lempicka as a strong woman, and to how she conducted herself. She stuck to what she believed in.” In her professional life, Beckham is having a good year. Her label, which four years ago was about £54m in debt and at risk of closure, has turned around, due in part to successful expansion into makeup and beauty, which has smartly allowed her to leverage the appeal of her brand name among consumers who cannot afford a £1,500 coat. Beauty is now a larger part of the business than fashion, but fashion