David Beckham Is Elle U.K.’s First Solo Male Cover Star
Photo: Doug Inglish for Elle UK
Elle U.K. certainly knows how to get our temperatures rising this summer.
For its July 2012 issue, the British magazine has unveiled its first-ever solo male cover star, and they've found the right man for the job: soccer stud David Beckham.
Photographed in all his tattooed glory by lensman Doug Inglish, the foxy father of four stars in an 11-page, California-set fashion spread that includes a pinup-worthy shot of him emerging from a swimming pool in nothing but some soaking wet Dior Homme jeans. (Admit it: You'd give anything to trade lives with Victoria Beckham right now.)
And if the dashing shots of him rocking Louis Vuitton don't win you over, surely the self-professed shy star's gushing comments about baby daughter Harper will.
“It’s great," he tells the magazine of his mini fashion icon. "I love to bite her legs, or shoulders. It’s how a baby should be. She’s so beautiful. There’s no more love for a daughter than there is a son, but it’s just different. When they [boys] are kids you can roll them around and they fall to the sides and they pick themselves up and they’re fine. Whereas Harper, now, she hits herself just slightly and she cries ... I still think ‘Oh God, I can’t believe this, I’ve got a girl.' And to see the boys with her it’s incredible. When they walk into the room, her little face lights up.”
Wife Victoria also earns praise for her success as a fashion designer.
"I think it was always important for Victoria to do her own thing," the H&M collaborator says. "She doesn’t run on a field with me and I don’t want to get in the way of her. But I was honored to be there this time [at her Fall 2012 presentation], because there was a lot of pressure this particular season, just because she’d been having the baby and people were saying 'Maybe this season won’t be so good' ... but it was unbelievable.
“She comes home and shows me what she’s been doing all day and what exciting dresses and bags she’s got coming through," he adds. "And then I say something boring like ‘I got kicked today.’ But we listen to each other. We try to go out at least once a week, just the two of us, a quiet dinner somewhere. It’s not about wearing a nice dress or a nice suit. It’s just going out and chatting and having some time together.”
Consider us jealous—not just of Victoria, but of U.K. readers, who will also score a special collector's cover from select retailers. Some girls have all the luck.
For more David Beckham, including behind-the-scenes footage of his shoot, visit Elleuk.com and pick up the July issue, on sale May 30.
