If you had ten minutes to ask fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff absolutely anything you wanted, what would you ask? Would you ask about her effortlessly cool personal style, her Fall 2013 fresh-off-the-runway collection, and her famous handbags (the ones that seamlessly combine form and function into bags nothing short of heavenly?) Would you want the low-down on her cool-girl runway hair and makeup looks, her style inspirations, and the story behind those carefully constructed Pinterest boards? I got the amazing chance to sit down with the fabulous Miss Minkoff at a TRESemme hair event after her runway show this New York Fashion Week and ask her these exact questions, and more! Read on for the full scoop!

Rebecca Minkoff’s own personal style is about as amazing as the looks she sends down the runway. (Read: You’re going to want to incorporate it into your own style, right now.) Her go-to style? “Great jeans, a great bag, and a jacket always makes you looked pulled together,” she says of scoring great style even when you’re not going all out on creating looks. “It looks chic when you don’t look like you really thought about it.”

How would Rebecca describe the Minkoff girl? “She’s a sexy tomboy. I always have boyish, menswear pieces,” she says. “She’s the kind of girl who is living in the suburbs, but she has grander dreams. It’s the kind of girl I was when I was 18 — I always keep her in mind. Now, I’m in my 30s, so I create things I could wear now, but never forget the girl I was, and what I wanted, then.”

Since the evening’s event was all about hair, Rebecca got right down to explaining her thought process behind every season’s fashion show hair styling:  “I always want to show hairstyles that a girl can do at home. I’m never going to just put a … thing … on top of the girls’ heads. I won’t show stuff that I couldn’t do myself.” I know I definitely appreciate that I can go home and snag runway-ready styles without spending hours on my style and coming out looking ridiculous. “I want the girls to look approachable, and not too styled. There’s nothing that you have to pin down, nothing overworked,” she said of all her runway hair looks. Her Spring 2013 hair looks were all about loose, beachy waves with updated, straight ends. For Fall 2013, look forward to what TRESemme Lead Hairstylist Jeannie Syfu describes as “a solid sheet of hair,” blunt, super straight strands that don’t sacrifice on the volume!

“My brand is a lifestyle brand. I’m not just sending dresses down the runway,” Rebecca explains about her all-inclusive collection. Yes — she actually thinks about warm coats and great jackets for her winter offerings! It shouldn’t be as revolutionary as it is, but after a Fashion Week full of belly shirts and sexy cutouts during the Nemo blizzard, it’s hard not to praise a designer for thinking about what real people wear. For her Fall 2013 collection, Rebecca was inspired by Amelia Earhart. I’m pretty sure that if Amelia were around today, she would be exactly the kind of girl who would wear Rebecca Minkoff: smart, powerful, and fuss-free. Rebecca really thought about the kind of things Amelia would have worn — the kind of things she would need to be stylish, comfortable, and practical — but those ideas quickly turned into a futuristic collection of “kind of space suits,” where “the inspiration is echoed in the garments’ closures and clasps.”

How does Rebecca Minkoff choose the music for her shows? “Ideally, the music matches the theme, but when picking bands to play, it’s always based on the artists’ schedules,” she explains about the multi-step process of securing a live band or DJ for her runway shows. “For the most part, I just pick stuff I like — and I hope you like it too!” Don’t worry, we love it!

So, what about those Pinterest boards? And the fan-centric Twitter page? “We understand that we have to be our own media channel,” says Rebecca of her brand’s constant broadcasting of fabulousness. “The process is prolific, and it’s reciprocal. We’re being inspired at the same time that we are inspiring.” I asked Rebecca about how she is able to find the trends (in colors, designs, or functions) that we need and love — before we even know we want them! — when she’s planning collections so far in advance, and apparently our repinning helps! “I mean, of course you can’t be 100% sure that something’s going to work, we just hope it does!” So far, it’s been working.

Season after season, Rebecca Minkoff delivers collections that we’re itching to wear months before they hit the department stores. Her pieces are worth saving up your pennies for, but they also blend nicely with other pieces you already own. Your RM purse is worth the investment because it seriously ups the glam factor of everything else you’re rocking. And the brand as a whole knows what we — the collective ladies with style, regardless how cultivated — want. Rebecca says that she still loves seeing people in her clothes on the street, and that kind of wearability and relatability will never go out of style.

Here, have a bonus picture of Rebecca and I after the interview! Thanks, TRESemme team!