Rebecca Minkoff Has a Wicked Sense of Style

The designer and founder opens up about life in front of the camera, motherhood, and her latest collaboration.

"The way we get dressed every morning is as personal as it gets. There are outfit repeaters, vintage treasure hunters, and even emotional dressers. But while everyone loves a good fashion trend, here at InStyle, we're interested in the deeper stuff, too: the way jewelry makes us feel, the way a beloved coat can spark joy on a cold day, the way a pair of shoes can pull a whole look together. How I Get Dressed unpacks fashion routines, rituals, and go-tos—straight from the fashion tastemakers we love."

Rebecca Minkoff is experiencing a career renaissance. Nearly 20 years after launching her eponymous brand and its mega-successful Morning After bag, Minkoff has cemented herself as a fashion industry icon thanks to her tireless work ethic and willingness to reinvent and rebrand herself. Take, for instance, her recent stint on The Real Housewives of New York City.

"The interesting thing about the show is that it's all about female businesswomen, " Minkoff says about joining the Bravo reality program. "No one is an actual housewife. It adds another flavor to the show: we all run our own businesses—we're not just sitting around on daddy's dime." While many moguls may shy away from the limelight, Minkoff sees it as another way to promote her fashion label and herself as a female founder.

Championing women's stories has long been a passion for Minkoff. When she’s not designing for her brand or filming for RHONY, Minkoff keeps herself busy raising her four children with husband Gavin Bellour, connecting women to career mentorship through her Female Founder Collective, and hosting her weekly podcast, Superwomen, where she interviews women from all walks of life about their successes and failures.

Minkoff's storytelling doesn't just end with herself. She views her brand as an extension of her ability to celebrate strong women, as seen in her collaboration with the Wicked franchise to design two whimsical handbags inspired by the film's two female leads, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

"It was this year-long project of getting assets from the film, getting to touch and feel the props, getting to see pieces of the film in advance, which was mind-blowing," Minkoff says of the inspiration behind the handbag, available exclusively at Bloomingdales and on her own site. "The amount of effort and thought that has gone into this is truly unreal."

Below, learn more about her personal style, her advice to new moms, and why you should always invest in a good handbag. This is Rebecca Minkoff's How I Get Dressed.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Her Personal Style

"I'd describe it as rock-and-roll—effortless, and lots of leather."

On Being the Face of Her Brand

"I don't really ever feel the pressure of being the face of my brand. The only time I joke about it is when we're out shooting, and I'm like, 'Am I going to be doing this when I'm 60? Am I going to be doing street style photoshoots when I'm an old lady?' And I mean, I was just shooting yesterday and my social media director was like, 'Yeah, there's a whole slew of 60-year-old women who have crazy fan bases that are old and killing it.' And I was like, 'All right, I guess I'll keep going then!'"

What's in Her Handbag

"I'm a minimalist. So, I have my Mara lip gloss. I have my wallet, keys, and favorite sunnies, which happen to be Rebecca Minkoff sunglasses, and gum, but it has to be Orbit gum. That's it! A handbag is one of those things that women truly connect to a unique experience or milestone— it’s a signifier. It's a signal of, ‘Hey! I got a raise, I got my first job, I'm going to the interview, I'm getting married!' And clothing, especially nowadays, is more disposable to people unless it's leather, so I think that's why handbags are usually more long-lasting."

Her First Luxury Purchase

"My first luxury purchase was the samples of my Morning After bag because prior to spending the $1,800 on the two samples, I could barely afford a $30 leather bag at Gap. After years of investing in my business, I was able to pay myself a salary. However, I made my first big splurge purchase on a trip to India with a girlfriend, where I had these rough-cut diamond bangles made for me. My daughter will inherit them one day.”

On Being Fearless With Fashion

"Every time I have put on something that made me slightly uncomfortable, not physically uncomfortable, is when I get the most compliments, when I love how it looks eventually in pictures. For so long I really felt like I was playing it safe but now I’m take more risks with my fashion, especially being on camera all the time. So just be willing to push the boundaries for yourself more."

Her Fashion Advise to New Moms

"Yyou can definitely find yourself in a rut post-baby—nothing fits the way it used to. But my advice would be to give yourself grace, give yourself time. It's the little things that can make such a big difference in your style. When I was postpartum, instead of trying to get into my pre-pregnancy clothes that no longer fit, I got really good at finding all these websites that just had amazing dresses for like 30 bucks.

I could wear them for a month until I dropped a couple of pounds so that made me feel great. And then again, I would just really embrace a great bag, great shoes, great accessories around that $30 dress, throw on a leather jacket, and then I would instantly feel better about myself and my style."

Her Outfit Formula

"When I'm in the office and I'm not shooting or doing interviews, I like to honestly be really comfortable and really just casual. So a great rock-and-roll tee, a great pair of jeans, a leather jacket. I think that's kind of my uniform. And then the days that I'm on and I'm going to be photographed or going to an event or again, shooting, I'm definitely more fancier with leather pants or leather skirt or a great blazer. But I'm definitely not the type that's dressed up every day."

On Getting Dressed for the Camera

"I definitely put a lot of thought into it. I did not hire a stylist for filming, so instead, I worked with my creative director at my company to really hone in on my look and feel, and how we wanted me to visually come across. I'm going to always be in a lot of black and a lot of leather, but then there's going to be those times where I'm popping in color to switch things up. So I think you'll see as the season goes on, there’s more experimentation, more risk-taking with my onscreen looks, which has been really fun."

Her Favorite Accessories

" I think it goes without saying shoes and bags, right? They can really transform a very basic outfit. Anything studded and embellished! Plus, bohemia is coming back and thank God—I've been missing the suede and the fringe. I feel like we’ve been in this androgynous, minimalist era for a while so I'm excited for a little bit more of the feminine Bohemia to be brought back on the streets. If all else fails, get some great earrings. There are a lot of really great, affordable brands that can make such a strong style statement."