Jessica Simpson 'I Wear Life With More Confidence

THE SINGER STEPS INTO HER POWER—AND HER PLATFORMS—WITH A NEW BOLDNESS AS HER BRAND CELEBRATES A MAJOR MILESTONE: ‘DREAMS CAN COME TRUE’

- LIZ MCNEIL

Twenty years ago Jessica Simpson launched a fashion brand with a pair of red cowboy boots and a quirky relatability. Underestimated at first, the Jessica Simpson Collection became a multi-million-dollar retail juggernaut, outlasting many celebrity lines. In 2021 she and her mom, Tina Simpson, 65, bought back ownership of the brand from the parent company and reclaimed control. “We were the little engine that could,” says Simpson. At 45, the mom of three—Maxwell, 13, Ace, 12, and Birdie, 6—is in her newly single era after her January split from former NFL player Eric Johnson, her husband of 10 years. Now celebrating two decades in fashion—and making her own music—she has a newfound independence and reflects, “I feel better than I ever did in my 20s.”

Congrats on 20 years of your line! How does it feel?