Rebecca Minkoff during New York Fashion Week in 2019.

Who Is the Real Rebecca Minkoff?

Accused of hypocrisy and workplace hostility, the fashion designer—and devout Scientologist—has gone from #Girlboss to horrible boss to Real Housewife

By Rachel Hodin

For the past 20 years, Rebecca Minkoff has been promoted as one of the greatest fashion stories of her generation. Her eponymous fashion-and-accessories collection, founded in 2005, offered legions of young women affordable access to the enviably cool world of downtown New York.

As the business thrived, Minkoff harnessed this success and used it to build a reputation for herself as a proud feminist and female business leader. And on April 16, it was announced the fashion designer would be joining the cast of The Real Housewives of New York City, alongside Jenna Lyons, the former creative director of J. Crew.