Designer Rebecca Minkoff on Her In-flight Routine and the Country She Has a 'Love Affair' With

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows Rebecca Minkoff

Designer Rebecca Minkoff has become an expert traveler in the past year — you have to when your work commute is from Florida to New York.

"I used to get stressed out about packing and thinking about what I needed but now it's robotic," she told Travel + Leisure when we caught up with her at her New York Fashion Week show earlier this month.

Minkoff has made traveling — her namesake fashion brand recently relaunched its luggage line — as well as dressing for work, or a night out easier for women since the company launched in 2001 with her iconic "I Love New York" t-shirt. Actress Jenna Elfman wore it on The Tonight Show on Sept. 9, 2001, and suddenly everyone knew Minkoff's name.

Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Actress Jenna Elfman during an interview with host Jay Leno on Oct. 08, 2001.

Twenty years later Minkoff celebrated the anniversary of her brand with the appropriately titled "I Love New York" capsule collection at New York Fashion Week. And though this collection is a tribute to that 20-year-old t-shirt, the presentation was anything but vintage.

And even though production of the line thankfully wasn't stalled due to COVID-19, the designer had to dig deep in the past year as traveling used to be her main source of fashion inspo.

"I used to go to Europe twice a year so I had to get really creative which is why this collection is all about New York," she said.

But commuting weekly from Florida to New York does leave her with uninterrupted time to tap into a deep focus for work, or just get some shut-eye.

"I sleep on the plane. I catch up on all the sleep but for a long flight, I will work," she said. "When I flew to LA recently I knocked out 600 emails. Just spewed them out by the time I landed."

And when it comes to any inflight beauty go-to's, Tata Harper moisturizer is a must along with minimal makeup from MERIT.

"I keep it simple but I do need my eyelashes," she said.

Beyond her regular New York-Florida route, Minkoff is ready to jet off to Europe, specifically to Greece.

"I have a love affair with Greece," she told T+L. "A few years ago through The Sailing Collective, we got a catamaran with five friends and sailed around Greece for 10 days and stopped at five of the smaller islands. The captain was American and the chef was from Brooklyn, naturally, but it was just the best way to experience everything. I only want to do Greece this way. We docked in the middle of nowhere and swam. And it wasn't that expensive!"

And when headed to the Caribbean, Minkoff loves to stay at her favorite hotel in the world, the Dunmore Hotel in Harbour Island, she said.

But until then, Minkoff has plenty going on at work following the September show. The award-winning designer has always been a trailblazer in her field and a major champion for women. In 2019 she launched the Female Founder Collective, a network of women-run businesses.

She also hosts the "Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff" podcast where she discusses challenges facing women and the fashion industry. And just this past summer she also released her first book, ″Fearless: The New Rules for Unlocking Creativity, Courage, and Success.″

In other words, she's a boss.

"Taking risks and having the challenge and overcoming it time and again," is what she says makes her most powerful. "I try to be bold, courageous, and not perfect. I try to acknowledge this is a team effort and validate others for their work as part of my practice as a leader."