How Victoria Beckham Turns into 'Victoria Beckham'

Image is so important to Victoria Beckham that she has it down to a science.

As for her lab, "It's funny," she tells January's Harper's Bazaar, on sale Dec. 16,

"I go to the gym now."

Once there,

"I run four miles a day," says the "very disciplined" mom of three boys: Brooklyn, 9; Romeo, 6; and Cruz, 3. Then, "I go into hair and makeup, and I turn into 'Victoria Beckham.' "

As for what that entails,

"I'll try on all my dresses, and I'll pick out a handbag, and I'll put on the shades. I instantly turn into this person, and it sort of feels like a character. And there are so many pictures of it ... But it's a true character because it’s still me."

Most pictures parade her patented pout – dubbed her "Blue Steel" look – though she admits to lightening up:

"I have started smiling ... I've mastered this smirk; it's a smile that isn't a smile."

High on Heels

But what hasn't disappeared are her trademark high heels, though some have deemed them as impractical.

"Oh, c'mon," she insists, "they're not that hard to walk in ... They're not uncomfortable! [But] you have to go to a sex shop to get this spray to polish them."

As for how she dresses when the paparazzi are not following her, Beckham, 34, says,

"I run around the house in a tracksuit sometimes."

Outside the house – where she likes to take walks with her family – is another matter.

"If I go to the supermarket looking like s---, that affects my work. I am selling an image. Plus, I have fun with it," she says. "I tell you, the paparazzi would not be sitting outside if they realized I was the most boring person in Hollywood."