Rebecca Minkoff: Behind The Seams

Welcome to Behind the Seams, the Hook video series that features Billboard fashion columnist Gregory DelliCarpini Jr. talking with top designers about the connection between music and style.

In just a decade, Rebecca Minkoff has grown from an up-and-coming New York designer to one of the most sought after womenswear and accessories designers in the world. Since her first handbag in 2005 and her inaugural ready-to-wear collection in 2009, stylish women everywhere, including young Hollywood (Keira Knightley, Hayden Panettiere) and music's bold names ( Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus) have sought out her bags, shoes and apparel. But music is even more integral to the downtown designer's aesthetic: it's a key part of her life and brand, she tells Billboard.

"I used to be a dancer, so from the age of 13 on I was really influenced by Alvin Ailey and the music that he would play," Minkoff explains. "From there, knowing that music could create this visceral feeling in you was something that I became drawn to."

That attraction to music's power has manifested itself most obviously in Minkoff's runway shows. Three seasons ago during fashion week, she incorporated live music into the show with Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl turning a fashion event into a concert/runway hybrid."People connected to the music and it tied in with the mood of the show," she says. "And from then on it was something we really stress as important, that we have live music as part of the brand." More recently, Theophilus London performed surrounded by her strutting models.

Minkoff confirms a commitment to the live music component in her shows. "As the seasons progress, you're going to see that this is something we continue doing."