
When I last met Melanie Chisholm, in 2003, she drove a very sexy Mercedes soft-top. This was the only indication that she was fabulously wealthy. Then, she had made £22.5 million. Now, she is even more wealthy, the coffers having been boosted considerably by earnings from the Spice Girls’ reunion tour in 2007. But Melanie C, former Sporty Spice, is as unspoilt as she ever was. At our photo shoot today in North London, she is rifling through the rail of expensive dresses, saying she has never owned anything this lovely, never even tried on a Roland Mouret before.
But, she says, just before the reunion tour, she splashed out. A new mansion, perhaps? A yacht, maybe? ‘No, a bag. I spent £1,000 on a new handbag to treat myself. I thought, “I’m going to work really, really hard, I’m going to make a few quid and I’m going to have that bag.” I’ll never spend that much on a bag again.’
This is Melanie all over: she seems not to have strayed too far from her working-class roots. ‘My family don’t seem to think I’m down to earth!’ she laughs. She tells me she had her eye on the Burberry biker jacket, the one that costs almost £4,000, but it was attached to the rail in the shop (probably to prevent it being stolen), and she was too embarrassed to ask someone to come along and unlock it.
...
She is much more glamorous than she was in the Spice Girls days: her hair is long and wavy, not pulled back in a ponytail. Although today she is in skinny jeans and a soft black biker jacket, she says she will occasionally dress up. ‘When I was up for the Olivier Award, I called Victoria and asked if I could borrow one of her designs,’ she says. ‘She sent these gorgeous gowns over right away. I wore two that night: one for performing, and one for the ceremony, and they made me feel amazing, really pulled me in in all the right places. Victoria has broken down a lot of barriers to get where she has in fashion, to earn respect, and she works really hard.’
