Yesterday, Victoria Beckham revealed what she wore on her first date with her husband David fifteen years ago. She tweeted a picture of the short suede brown-ish orange belted number, and even there, stark against a grey carpet, it spoke of romance and possibility.

Looking at it, you could sense hands that touched sort-of accidentally, sort-of on-purpose; jokes that were laughed at almost too heartily; tiny intimate secrets that were spilled after the last glass of wine; legs that pressed up against each other in the cab journey; and, maybe, kissing. 

Look what I found! The dress I wore on my first date with David!! 💛💙💜💚❤️ X so cute!! X vb pic.twitter.com/pXNvgwvurH

— Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) June 19, 2024

We asked fashion and beauty insiders to reveal their first-date outfit, the dress (or oh-so-casual jumper-and-jeans combination) that they wore on their most successful first date, the first date that led them to their current girlfriend or boyfriend or husband or wife.   

India Knight, journalist and author:
'A rather correct navy blue silk dress, Chanel pearl necklace – really not the kind of thing I normally wear at all. But it wasn’t a date, it was a normal meeting that turned into a date.' 

Alanna Sparks, fashion editor at Farfetch:
'I remember exactly what I wore – because Kieran still talks about it! It was a cream muslin dress that used to belong to my mum in the 1970s and I had it altered to make it more modern with a shorter skirt. It was trimmed with the most beautiful crochet work on the deep neckline and the waistband. I wore it with a pair of wooden wedges from Aldo and a pair of antique silver earrings from Morocco. We went to a gorgeous French restaurant in Dublin called l'Gueleton and drank champagne and had steak. It was pretty perfect actually.' 

Ruth Warrior, hair and make-up artist:
'It was so long ago, nearly 17 years. I have to say I don't really even remember meeting Chris properly – I know we were in the Pitcher & Piano on the Fulham Road ... And I do know what I was wearing: a Whistles bias-cut chocolate brown velvet dress (I still have it, size 6). Gina stilettos in gold – it was 1999! I had a matching velvet clutch bag too .

'As for the first date there wasn't one. After meeting in the P&P we never left each other's side, I never went home ... Literally. Famously, we were expecting [our son] Jude nine weeks later!' 

Rosanna Falconer, head of digital at Matthew Williamson:
'My first date with George was actually completely misinterpreted on my part. I thought it was a meeting and nearly invited my boss. We'd worked together for a couple of years (he at the LFW Daily and me at the British Fashion Council). It became apparent after a few minutes that we weren't there to discuss distribution and editorial layout. My outfit was one of my office go-to looks – cardigan by Matthew Williamson, trousers by Isabel Marant, body by ASOS, clutch by MW for H&M, shoes by Zara. Flat shoes were a must – I was conscious I was the same height as George. Now he loves a spindly pair of stilettos – he says it makes him feel like Rod Stewart.'

Karen Dacre, fashion editor of the London Evening Standard:
'I have no idea. In fact, I don’t even know that we had a first date. It was more of a “you’re already my friend, you’ll do” sort of a situation. How romantic.'

Anna-Marie Solowij, co-founder of BeautyMART:
'I'd had a dream about a man I'd met on holiday, when I'd visited his art gallery.  I decided to go back to have another look at him and I took a lot of care over what I wore, almost as if I was dressing for a first date, even though he had no idea of my interest in him. I wore an Antik Batik dress in a pale blue, yellow and white floral pattern that I'd bought in Paris with a pale yellow silk obi belt. It was pretty dressy for my "casual", "chance" drop back to his gallery. Eight years later, we're still together and when I've since worn the dress, I've waited for his "first date" comment. It never comes... Men!'

Ruby Hammer, make-up artist and beauty entrepreneur:
'Our first date was almost ten years ago in August 2004. It was a hot day and we went for drinks at the Sanderson Hotel, outside in the garden area. I wore a pale yellow floaty top from the Chloe collection with white fitted jeans and heels ... Nice make-up, shiny hair. So I made a big effort but I wanted to look effortless! I think I pulled it off. I can't remember what Martin wore but he was clean and smelt great!'

Cloudia Charalambos, PR Director at Gap:
'It was December, just before Christmas and freezing! I met Duncan outside the Gate Cinema in Notting Hill. It was a blind date and I didn’t want to get too dressed up so I wore black skinny jeans from Gap, cream patent ankle boots by a Brazilian designer my best friend stocked in her boutique, a grey marl T-shirt and a Derek Lam navy wool pea coat. After drinking too much red wine in a nearby pub, we ended up in a salsa club at 3am and I definitely felt underdressed!'

Catriona Taylor, editor at Toni & Guy magazine:  
'I wore a 1960s-style mini smock dress with a little Peter Pan collar and a micro-floral meadow print. It was actually from H&M but people assumed it was vintage. I teamed it with a cornflower blue scarf knotted around the collar, dark grey tights, dark grey snakeskin Mary-Janes (from Kurt Geiger) and my bright pink vintage waffle coat that I got from The Shop on Cheshire Street for a steal.

'I was an hour late because I couldn't decide what to wear!  Funny thing is, I wore that dress yesterday and my boyfriend said "You look so lovely in that" and I had to remind him I wore it on our first date five years ago.'

Elspeth Jenkins, fashion editor at Feeling magazine, Belgium and freelance stylist: 
'We had our first date 11 years ago at a gig of his band. I wore a vintage green army jacket and fitted black Zara trousers and baby-blue pointy flats. I choose it because he was a "rocker". Ha. Oh and Chris just reminded me I wore a Yeah Yeah Yeahs T-shirt underneath the army jacket. He remembers because he didn't like them.'

Carola Long, deputy fashion editor at the Financial Times:
'I can't accurately remember what I wore on my first date with my now husband, but given that it was around 2000-ish (I can't even remember the year, what a hopeless romantic) I think it was one of two equally undistinguished ensembles. One a French Connection stripy top (unflatteringly tight, not all loose and Breton-ish) with a low neck, or a sheer floral-print camisole top thing worn as outerwear with a dreadful flesh-coloured bra. Either would have been teamed with some distressed straight jeans from Diesel.This was the era of the jeans-and-a-fancy-top school of dressing. Disappointingly, neither outfit was even hilariously dated and ill-judged, just a a bit crap, and certainly not conventional "resultwear". I asked my husband if he remembers what I wore and he said "I have no idea".'

Penny Martin, editor of The Gentlewoman:
'On our first date, 20 years ago last month, my now-husband Barry was wearing "Bobby Ewing-style" blue denim Duffer jeans with a black-and-cream houndstooth button-down shirt by Duffer, plus brown ankle boots from Ichi Ni San and a cream Lee jeans jacket. I think I was wearing an A-line black dress borrowed from my flatmate Frances with a chocolate brown pea coat from French Connection and black loafers from Cruise. So he was definitely the more extravagantly attired.'

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