Posh goes posh

She went in a Shazza and came out a Sophia Loren - who'd have thought Victoria Beckham would scrub up so well? The ailing solo artist might not be making a big impression in the pop charts but Pop magazine is a different matter. For the new issue, Victoria is reinvented as a sexy Sixties siren, all big hair, big eyes and big bosom. Gone are the spray-on jeans and tinder-dry hair extensions that comprise her usual daytime look, and in their place a slinky Louis Vuitton swimsuit and luxuriant mane.

"Victoria was an absolute joy to work with," says Katie Grand, Pop's editor. "She was very professional and very charming, and her body looked great." Asked whether she could shed some light on the mystery of Mrs Beckham's expanding chest, Grand had no idea. "I didn't see them, I swear."

Victoria is the latest celebrity to get the Pop makeover treatment. The magazine has also been responsible for giving Demi Moore, Liz Hurley and Kylie Minogue radical image changes.

Despite appearing in an eight-page fashion shoot, catwalk models needn't worry too much. "There's no point in me trying to look like someone on the catwalk. I'm not a supermodel," says Beckham in an exclusive interview. "I have to work at it."

Not content with being a front-row fixture at Dolce & Gabbana, and one of the most famous shoppers in Europe, Beckham admits she is keen to experience life as a designer rather than a buyer.

"Fashion is something new for me and the more I do the more I like it," she said.

Armani need not quake in his boots just yet. Victoria is expected to aim her clothing range at young girls who want to dress like her, rather than at rich Milanese matriarchs.