Heard the one about Victoria Beckham's strange habit of fiddling with her ear every time she sees a photographer?

By Lizzie Smith

The classic Posh ear grab: Victoria Beckham strikes her favourite pose, seen left arriving back in Los Angeles yesterday and, right, leaving the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York on Tuesday

A casual observer might think Victoria Beckham was on the phone, or pushing an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

But seasoned Spice watchers know better.

This is the fashion designer's favourite pose, which she pulls whenever she spots a camera pointed in her direction.


Queen of the ear grab: Posh strikes her favourite pose, left, and nightclubbing and shopping in Paris last month

The unmistakable ear grab always involves her left hand, and an accompanying downward glance to the floor.

Whether the mother-of-three is aware of her ear grab is not known. Perhaps it is a nervous reaction to the spotlight, or maybe she is merely checking her sunglasses are properly in place.

But it is certainly different to the more common hands-on-hips pose struck by most celebrities.

That carefully crafted move is designed to slim the body and create the illusion of a smaller waist.


Jet setter: Whether Victoria is shopping at Chanel in Paris, visiting David in Milan or playing mother in Malibu, the pose remains the same


But Posh's look seems angled to shield her face from the camera flashes, without appearing to do so.

The 35-year-old is one of the world's most photographed women, and has never made any attempt to reduce the public's interest in her.

In fact she recently admitted to working out seven days a week so that she looked good in photos.

'I didn’t want to rely on retouching,' she told Harper's Bazaar. 'I wanted to look at those pictures in 20 years’ time and say, “Wow, look - after three kids - I didn’t look bad.”'


Something wrong with your ear? Victoria at her offices in Battersea, in Dallas, and filming American idol

source: dailymail