A California native who burst onto the scene in New York with a version of the  “I love to New York” T-shirt in 2001, Minkoff really made her mark with the Morning After Bag (M.A.B.) in 2005.

Speaking at the lunch, Minkoff told the story behind the bag’s name: It was all about the Sex and the City lifestyle in New York at the time, about encounters, about dancing the night away – and having a handbag with room for your dancing shoes when you headed off to work the morning after.

Aside from providing accessible product and the bohemian rock styling that lures a certain consumer, aged 18 to 35, Minkoff has been an early adopter of technology and social media. She was among the first designers to adopt the “see-now, buy-now model” and has no plans to abandon it. “She just wants it now,’’ Minkoff said, adding that it would be “suicidal’ not to provide instant access.

“I’m the same age and sex as my consumer. I still know how to connect with her and talk to her on that same level – versus someone who is maybe far older.’’

Rebecca Minkoff handbag at Ogilvy’s.

More fringe benefits from Rebecca Minkoff at Ogilvy’s.

And she also pioneered the use of bloggers and influencers in her shows, casting 11 influencers in her last presentation. “The consumer doesn’t care about models,’’ she said. Now, like other brands, the company is engaging more micro-influencers, those with perhaps “only 20,000” followers on Instagram, along with superstars like Aimee Song (4.6 million followers) and model Coco Rocha, in her February show at The Grove in L.A.. The consumer feels they’re more authentic than the mega-stars of social media, Minkoff said.

The company does not disclose figures, but Fortune and other market watchers put sales at over $100 million in 2014. To have achieved all this so far, Minkoff has her brother Uri at her side as CEO, private investment and a president whom she says can sell anything.

And while the company is known for its bags, a lifestyle empire is emerging, with shoes, apparel and jewelry, and a watch collaboration with Movado in the works.

So far, there are just four company stores, with more to come in test markets (Venice, Italy, for instance), more than 900 points of sale worldwide, and an online store that does about 40 per cent of company sales.

The Mini M.A.C. (morning after clutch) is the company’s most popular style.

“Mini M.A.C. sales keep the lights on,’’ Minkoff said.

Rebecca Minkoff Mini M.A.C. in silver, at Ogilvy’s.

So what’s in a bag – aside from those dancing shoes? Minkoff shared her take on the bag phenom, which has been driving luxury sales for years.   

When you look at trends in apparel, they can flip quickly, going from minimalist to embellished in six months, Minkoff reasoned. “A bag lasts longer, you can wear it every day and it’s not like wearing the same T-shirt every day. A bag and shoes are one size fits all. It’s far easier for a woman with any body type to invest,” she said.

Bags are also celebratory purchases and mark occasions like job interviews or promotions: “There’s also an emotional attachment to that experience she has with that bag.”

Asked if she has hopes of becoming the next Donna, Calvin, Ralph, Tory or Michael, Minkoff said she was unsure that kind of reach would ever be achieved again. There are so many direct to consumer brands today, she noted.

“We hope to be a contender to be one of the last ones,’’ Minkoff said.

Pretty place setting for lunch with Rebecca Minkoff at Ogilvy’s Tudor Hall.

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Two seasoned Montreal fashion and marketing professionals have teamed up with former model and designer Betina Holte to create what they call a luxe punk brand.

The New York-based Holte, who is Danish and married to Madonna ex Carlos Leon, had been working as a designer at Zac Posen when Fernanda Sousa, alumnus of Reitmans, Aldo, Shermax and Leighton Barrett, spotted her in the shoe department at Bergdorf’s.

“She embodied my dream aesthetic of what the apparel would look like – somehow alternative looking but still elegant. Half her head was shaven. She was this tall willowy thing – everybody at Bergdorf’s was looking at her.”

Sousa had been looking for a fashion niche that spoke to her. “I had no interest in fast fashion” she said.

She left Bergdorf’s, without having twigged to who the woman was. When she figured it out, she contacted Holte through Linked In.

“I thought any company would benefit from creating brand around her. She embodied a lifestyle to me.”

And she is a bona fide designer, Sousa stresses. “She is the real thing.”

Fernanda Sousa, Denise Arab and Betina Holte teamed up to create a new “punk luxe” brand.

Now, two years later, Sousa, Denise Arab and Betina Holte have launched a capsule collection of 11 pieces – all black with a few tweed and pinstripe pieces. There’s the washed silk almost-backless engagement dress, designed by Holte for her own engagement, an edgy jumpsuit, and soft Ts that are forever cool. Also on offer: black rhodium-plated silver and diamond jewelry. The gems are hidden, Sousa pointed out, so “it’s very much about quiet luxury.”

It is cool in every sense, tapping into the seasonless model that is now gathering steam, especially with Burberry’s and Tom Ford’s recent announcements that they would shun the traditional calendar of showing six months in advance of the season. And it is direct to consumer, with an e-commerce site that launched Jan. 27.

The fashion is crafted in New York; with jewels, and candles to come, in Montreal. Also in the plans, ceramic pieces, soap – all black, natural and non-toxic – and eventually bags, shoes and more home products. They are looking for Montreal producers for the fashion, as well.

The three were on the same page on creating things with “a little more soul,” Sousa said. They did not want to produce in Asia. They spent two years working on developing the elements of the brand.

Holte was the brand – sophisticated, European, living in New York, bridging those two worlds, and not of the ladylike upper East Side world, but more of an “alternative cool vibe.”

She cares about quality, where and how things are made, and the values therein, added Arab, a PR and marketing veteran who worked with the Business Development Bank of Canada and Telefilm Canada,

They had to develop a roadmap to the future. “I understand that doing all of that first makes it so much easier.”

Now, they are considering a pop-up shop in New York, and focusing on building a customer base and brand recognition.

And like many in the fashion trenches, they are questioning the fast fashion model, and where it has taken us as a society.

“The fast fashion model is flawed in a big way,” Sousa said. “There’s no joy in those products. I think people are starting to think about the true cost of that $5 T-shirt.

“I really think the consumer is quietly revolting against this mass-produced product that has like 80 per cent markup on it.”

Rhodium plated silver with hidden diamonds. PHOTOS COURTESY BETINA HOLTE

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