AC Milan midfielder, de Jong's wife follows Victoria Beckham's fashion footsteps

Move over Victoria Beckham, there is a new WAG on the fashion block.

Winonah de Jong, wife of AC Milan's Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong, says she is realising a "little girl's dream" after making the leap from blogging about fashion to designing her own line of clothes.

Inevitably some will suspect a vanity project, an overspill from the surplus millions splashing around in football.

And the bombastic publicity material for the launch of the "Winonah" line at Milan fashion week does nothing to dispel such skepticism.

The Surinam-born 34-year-old is described as an "exotic beauty with an innate sense of style" as well as a "Dutch celebrity, style icon, trendsetter and social media star".

The description of her new line might make you think it is aimed exclusively at WAGs -- Wives and Girlfriends, the dismissive term coined in Britain for the usually glamorous partners of millionaire footballers.

The collection is, they say, one that "doesn't shy away from daring colours, cuts, openings and captivating transparencies, or unexpected slits for a stunning red carpet arrival".

In person however Milan's newest designer could not seem further removed from the caricature of an egotistical, empty-headed footballer's wife.

She likes dressing up and admits her evening wear will be beyond most people's reach. "But I am also quite tomboyish and I am a mother. Sometimes I just want to wear jeans and a T-shirt. I think you will find something for everyone in the collection."

Winonah says her husband -- more than her 150,000 followers on Instagram -- influenced her decision to take the plunge into a sector which already has too many producers chasing too few wealthy customers.

"He is the one who said, 'you need to do it. It is your dream'," Winonah told AFP at the Milan showroom where she is showcasing the small "capsule" collection with which she has launched her company.

The mother of two is not totally unqualified. She graduated from a Dutch fashion college, albeit having specialised in retail management and textiles rather than design.

She says her standing on social media did not make her believe she could emulate Victoria Beckham's success. But she acknowledges it helped in terms of giving her confidence that there is a market for her vision. "My fans would really love to see a product that I made, that I designed," she says.

Of Beckham, she adds: "I respect her a lot because she worked her way up and she is very good at what she is doing."