Rebecca Minkoff to Present New Brand Identity During NYFW
Rebecca Minkoff dialed into a conference call Friday morning to explain the new brand identity she’s launching during New York Fashion Week. Something crystallized last season, when Minkoff decided to skip fashion week (partly because she was nine months pregnant, and partly because, given the political climate, a runway show felt tone-deaf) and link up with members of the Women’s March and some celebrities to share their stories and be photographed wearing the Rebecca Minkoff spring 2018 collection, all of it immediately shoppable.
“We realized we had an untapped audience of women who were looking for brands to become their platform for their self-expression and not just product-driven companies,” Minkoff explained.
The wheels started turning for her new brand identity and tag line: “I Am Many.” “It’s about the idea that we are many as women,” said Minkoff. “We have many different parts to our personalities. We’re multidimensional and there are many of us. If we can share workspaces, share car services, how do we look at collective success being something that’s shared?”
Minkoff took the rebranding beyond a new motto and fleshed out an entire manifesto, which lists the many things women can be — “Huggiver. Breadwinner. Runner. Smileraiser. Peacekeeper.” — alongside some uplifting marketing speak — “I Am Many. When slaying is tender. When sensitivity meets daring. When femininity meets street.”
As part of the “I Am Many” launch, Minkoff filmed a series of 10 one-minute videos featuring entrepreneurs, media figures and activists wearing the fall, holiday or resort collections, which will be immediately available at rebeccaminkoff.com and in Rebecca Minkoff stores within 30 days. Asked if the collections were designed to reflect the brand’s new proud, empowered-woman attitude, Minkoff said, “As a brand, we’re not really using ‘I was inspired by this rockstar’ or whatever it is anymore because we believe, with a woman going from the gym, to the boardroom, to pick up her kid, we want to make clothes that are relevant and that can go to all those different activities. So obviously, it is a fall collection so it’ll be appropriate for the fall season.”
The videos are to premiere at Minkoff’s SoHo store on Sept. 5 and be published across the company’s digital and social channels. Minkoff has also recorded 30 episodes of her new podcast, titled “Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff,” the first of which will air Sept. 18. Guests include Ibtihaj Muhammad, Olympic medalist; Samantha Barry of Glamour; Coco Rocha; Anne Fulenwider of Marie Claire; Michelle Lee of Allure; Christene Barberich of Refinery29; and Amirah Kassem of Flour Shop.
Additionally, Minkoff will try for social media swell in which key talent have agreed to wear a T-shirt printed with the “I Am Many” logo and “post a video sharing what they are and encouraging their followers to repost and share what makes them multidimensional and multifaceted,” said Minkoff. She likened it to the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon of a few years ago, except instead of raising money for ALS, she’s capitalizing on the feminist wave to raise awareness for her fashion brand.
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