New York Fashion Week can sometimes blur into a continuous cycle of glamorous runway shows, presentations and previews featuring the newest collections from all the designers you love and will learn to love next season. Walking into the Rebecca Minkoff flagship store in SoHo, I was immediately brought back to reality. Fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff was walking around the space donning a chic black nursing cover, pumping while conducting interviews and even assisting customers.
Minkoff’s new brand identity is called I Am Many and looking at her juggling several facets of her life right in front of me, I get it. “I Am Many comes out of the idea that as women, we are usually marketed as being one thing,” says Minkoff. “We are many things. You are not just one thing. But also, there are many of us.”
Rebecca Minkoff, “I Am Many”
The new brand identity is accompanied by the Rebecca Minkoff Fall 2018 collection and a video series featuring ten, one-minute videos that put a spotlight on successful women who can hopefully inspire younger female generations. On selecting the women to be features, Minkoff says, “We wanted no one we’ve ever heard of before. We wanted women who are game-changers.”
Utilizing technology to tell these stories is a way for younger generations to connect and be exposed to multidimensional women. Each video is intended to showcase a collection of women including entrepreneurs, activists, founders, students and more. “We are many things. From the youngest face of Planned Parenthood who is trying to get periods to not be such a taboo subject to a Latino soprano in the opera world who is representing women of color,” Minkoff says of the women included in the I Am Many campaign.
Rebecca Minkoff, “I Am Many”
Working in a female dominated industry, Minkoff recognizes that there is a certain competitive edge necessary to succeed. But, her goal with this campaign is to encourage women to support each other. “It’s about how we as women can make success contagious and camaraderie contagious,” Minkoff explains. “Let’s really support each other more in an era where the fight has been about just getting a seat at the table. We can all band together to bring each other up.”
Part of supporting each other and working together to build successful relationships and women is about incorporating other brands to create mutually beneficial results. As the Essie color ambassador, Minkoff was the first designer to use the Essie Fall 2018 Collection this season to go along with the premiere of her I Am Many campaign. The colors were all inspired by New York City and the idea of being in-transit or on the go. From a silver color inspired by the sparkles in the cement to a yellow shade representative of the sunset during Manhattanhenge, the collection mimics every day New York City moments.
Essie Fall 2018 Collection
As a mother, designer, wife, friend and more, Rebecca Minkoff is using her platform to benefit women across the globe and turning her new Fall 2018 collection into a collective. See below for one of the videos featured in the I Am Many series.
