Understandably, mommy Victoria Beckham has been joined at the hip (as it were) with her 4 month old baby girl Harper Seven … but, it would seem, the time has come to cut the umbilical cord a bit because for the first time … Vicki B. put the baby away and got down to business. Even when New York Fashion Week took place a couple months ago, VB participated with little Harper in her arms. Last night, Harper was nowhere to be seen … and VB hit the town all by herself.

Besides her appearance at New York Fashion Week back in September, Victoria Beckham has been keeping a low profile of the fashion front of late. But last night the mother-of-four, who gave birth to daughter Harper Seven in July, returned to the spotlight again to talk at a conference in the Big Apple. The former Spice Girl looked suitably stylish as she posed at the 2011 WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit at The Plaza Hotel. She slipped into an eye-catching strapless blue dress with a black mid-section, teamed with leather leg warmers and stiletto heels. The figure-hugging fit showed that Posh has clearly been working hard to get back in shape – just four months after giving birth. Victoria jetted into New York from LA, bringing little Harper along with her. Tweeting ahead of the conference, where she is a guest speaker, Victoria told her two million Twitter followers: ‘Excited to be heading to NY to speak at the @womensweardaily conference! x VB.’ Victoria seems to be particularly close to Harper after making no secret of her longing for a daughter, following the birth of her three boys.

My initial reaction to the leather leggings is … ew. But somehow, they kinda work on VB. It’s not a look that I think most people can pull off but … meh, it’s ok on Vicki B. As for her getting back to work, well, I’m actually surprised she didn’t put the baby away earlier in order to get down to business. There is no question that VB is entirely smitten with her only begotten daughter … its totally understandable that she would want to keep her around as much as possible. Still … I bet it was nice for the mommy to have a nice night of purely adult company ;)

[Photo credit: Wireimage, Splash News; Source]