Rebecca Minkoff hit the jackpot eight years ago with her best-selling Morning After bag and hasn t looked back since. She still maintains a loyal following of trendy twentysomethings who might be in need of a accessories cure-all following a night of carousing, but the designer herself has grown up, and these days it s likelier she s hanging out at home with her newborn babe than painting the town red. Minkoff is a professed Francophile, and for pre-fall, she looked to a perennial inspiration, Françoise Hardy in the sixties, when "straight lines and tough-chic tailoring," as Minkoff explained it, came into vogue. Overall, the look was more modern than mod, but you can see the swinging decade s influence in the Mary Quant-ish leather miniskirts and shifts; ditto goes for the cyan or tangerine colored drainpipes. The standout pieces here were definitely the leather ones, which makes sense given Minkoff s background in accessories. And speaking of accessories, "Minkettes" will be smitten with this season s practical iPad case-cum-clutch, along with the leopard-print haircalf loafers (you re not about to see this new mom running around in four-inchers).
