It's always a good sign when a fashion designer can't stop wearing her own work, and 40-year-old Rebecca Minkoff is not ashamed to admit that 90 percent of her wardrobe is her own. And now she's sharing her leadership and life lessons with the world in her first book, Fearless: (opens in a new tab) (June 15).

Like her design, Minkoff values the language of the book, explaining to Marie Claire that it is not filled with coffee-table clichés. Instead, the book is about the practical hurdles she had to overcome and the lessons she had to take advantage of when a pandemic threatened luxury fashion brands last year.

"When the pandemic started, 70% of our business basically disappeared. So we had to pivot our entire business model," she says. 'My company could be gone. How do we keep it alive? So [the book] couldn't have come at a better time in terms of parallel progress between what we did 20 years ago and everything we need to do now to survive."

The pandemic has transformed life at home for Minkoff. Realizing that she would have to home school her three children while continuing her business, she and her husband headed to Florida, where Minkoff's parents lived and schools were open. There, she shed her New York-inspired winter jacket and heels for a beach-appropriate dress and sandals. (From Florida to Manhattan, she made frequent plane rides until her family moved north again.) But the temporary move also helped her adopt a "less is more" strategy for shopping, and she now consciously curates her closet with longevity and sustainability in mind.

She doesn't need permission to do what she loves ("We're not children anymore. Leave that to childhood."), the need to take risks (both in her career and in her wardrobe), to her athleisure outfits, and of course Rebecca Minkoff's staples, here's what she wears for work and life. (Warning: you'll want a new bag or two by the end...)

My husband and I share the workload. I put the crazy kids to bed and my husband puts the 3 minute olds to bed. My husband gets up first thing in the morning to make lunches for all the kids and make my coffee. I used to use a heavy creamer, but now I use an almond creamer. Then I dress the kids and feed the baby. I drop them off and pick them up from school 3 days a week and my husband 2 days. [On pick-up and drop-off days] I rush home and work out for 45 minutes. Then I have a call with the executive team every day at 10 am. We review the previous day's events and goals and plan adjustment points.

While there is certainly a casual element to my attire, there is always a unique element. If it's jeans and a T-shirt, there's a twist to it to make it more prestigious, and [my style] has a lot of unexpected accessories. I bought my first pair of heels at an Italian outlet when Sergio Rossi heels were all the rage. When I looked at those heels, they were definitely heels that made me uncomfortable. Would I be able to wear these? Every time I wore those shoes, they stood out from the rest of my outfit. So I think I adopted the idea of "wearing something that makes me a little uncomfortable, not physically, but mentally." 0]

I try to wear what is available in stores, online, and what the Rebecca Minkoff brand is talking about. Wallets have always been my signature item. There is not a moment when I am not wearing a Rebecca Minkoff bag. Lately, I've been wearing a tote bag that doubles as a diaper bag. But there are also rare occasions when I carry a cross-body bag, like Jet's Boxy Bag.

Casual, boho rock, and free-spirited.

I have these sweatpants, Noras, which I like a lot. And then there's the Janine sweatshirt (opens in new tab) - it's a design detail that bulges a bit around the shoulders and makes it look so neat that you wouldn't think you were wearing a college sweatshirt. I also wore an Easy House dress (opens in a new tab) - it's a very pretty dress, and I love it. Natalie Martin makes great beach dresses, so I just throw it on as a house dress.

Coordinating sweatshirts. I also always have an oversized tote. It changes with the seasons, but lately I've been living on the plane with my Sienna tote. It comes in both nylon and leather, and I'm a sucker for the leather one.

I used to be somewhat of a hoarder. I didn't want to get rid of anything. But when I moved to Florida during the pandemic, I realized that I could get rid of 10 percent of my wardrobe and still live very comfortably. So I definitely developed a new mentality. When I recently moved back to New York, I said, "I don't need it anymore. I don't want it. I don't want it. Is it something you want to keep forever, or how many times have you worn it? If I haven't worn it in a long time, I keep it.

I know it sounds crazy, but when I find a good fit, I always buy a spare pair. I think trends come and go, but you should always focus on what makes your body look its best. My closet is almost entirely made up of Levi's, and they don't necessarily have to be vintage Levi's, they can be from a Levi's store or outlet. I also recently learned that Madewell makes high-rise jeans. This is because I have always had a problem with high rise jeans. And then Madewell hit on it, and I was like, "Great. I'm going to buy them in every color." [A few years ago, there was a collaboration between Barneys and Birkenstock. I'm obsessed with it. I have four pairs in black and four pairs in white that I find on eBay or Poshmark. I have a rule that if I find them online and they're not outrageously priced, I buy them.

Leather jackets - cropped or oversized. This outfit is a bit ......" I know that a leather jacket is perfect.