Photo: WWD

When Victoria Beckham launched her first eponymous collection for spring 2009 there were no expectations. The former Spice Girl had dabbled in fashion—first with bedazzled jeans and then sunglasses—but aside from a self-mocking Marc Jacobs ad the year before she hadn’t yet been embraced by high fashion. After just one collection of sleek, Roland Mouret-like dresses, she was in. Since then, her dresses have popped up on celebrities like Eva Mendes and Blake Lively, she’s launched $14,000 handbags and established a real life luxury brand. Now, she’s aiming to please the girls who can’t splurge on dresses worth thousands with her new collection of dresses, Victoria by Victoria Beckham. The dresses, which are slated for spring 2012, will range from $550 to $900.  Despite their girlishness, Beckham was inspired by Emily the Strange, the cat-loving cartoon character, and expects a few prints to end up in the collection. She told WWD she’s created, “The perfect little summer dress, something that was fun, something that was girly, something that was easy to wear, something that would take you from day through the night.” What’s next for Beckham? After giving birth to her fourth child, and first girl, next month, she’ll set her sights on the next big project—a brick and mortar store in New York City.