Nicole Miller

Nicole Miller
Born	1952 Fort Worth, Texas
Nationality	American
Education	Rhode Island School of Design, Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne

Nicole Miller is an American fashion designer with a modern, whimsical creative signature. Her design aesthetic has an ageless quality and a young sensibility.

Miller attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where she earned a degree in fine art. Knowing that her long-term goal was to design fashion, she created her own study abroad program at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne where she also earned a degree and was trained to drape and master the classical techniques of couture.

Unlike some in fashion who have name-sake brands without backgrounds in design, Miller’s training in both art and couture allow her to be actively involved in every aspect of the creative process. Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Beyonce, Lauren Hutton, Eva Longoria Parker, Anne Hathaway and Alicia Keys are among those who have recently worn her designs.

Early life

Born in Fort Worth, Texas and raised in Massachusetts, Miller was surrounded by Parisian fashion magazines and French culture during her childhood. Her mother is from Paris; and her father from a family with roots in Philadelphia dating to the 1600s – two of her ancestors having served as the city’s mayor in the eighteenth century.

On the first of several occasions when the Mattel toy company asked Miller to design a Barbie doll, she remarked about the irony of never having one as a child – her mother having preferred French dolls for her and her sister.

Design philosophy

Nicole Miller is the preeminent American among fashion’s print and color elite. Never satisfied with the status quo, she is a self-described fabric junkie who is equally comfortable designing with a strict monochromatic palette.

Her pieces are technically complex. A natural sense of whimsy often leads to unexpected mixes of opposing elements that make the clothes unique. Body consciousness is a constant in Miller’s design. Her silhouettes are engineered to flatter women’s bodies and forgive flaws.

Company

Upon graduation from RISD, Miller moved to New York City and teamed up with business partner Bud Konheim. Already established in the industry, Konheim was seeking a design partner.

Nicole Miller’s first runway show, for the Spring 1991 season, was held in October of 1990. Since then the business has been expanded into numerous categories that today result in a lifestyle brand with annual retail sales exceeding USD$650 million. In addition to designer collection apparel, Miller designs women’s handbags, footwear, intimate apparel, coats, swimwear, scarves, cold weather accessories, eyewear, fashion jewelry, fine jewelry, dresses for girls sized 4-12, fragrance, cosmetics and products for the home.

Miller’s runway collection apparel is sold in more than 1,200 fine specialty retailers across the United States and in Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Bloomingdales stores. She has a network of freestanding Nicole Miller boutiques with locations in New York City/Madison Avenue and Soho, West Hollywood, Chicago, Miami, Tysons Corner, Philadelphia/Center City and Manayunk, Atlanta, Boca Raton, FL, and Livingston, NJ, and on www.nicolemiller.com Products for the home are available exclusively at Bed bath and Beyond.

A line of conversational print ties for men in the 1990s was one of Miller’s best-selling novelty collections. Begun with a ticket printed on a silk tie and sold in a theater gift shop, they were a runaway hit. Stores barely able to keep them on the shelves at the peak of popularity included Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

In 2005 Miller accepted an offer from JCPenney to design an affordable collection under the nicole by Nicole Miller label. The line is one of the earliest examples of a runway designer working with a mass retailer – and notable for its ongoing success.

In an era when many designers work for large corporations, Nicole Miller maintains her independence. She owns her company with Konheim and the firm’s 150 employees. They are one of the few independent fashion design studios operating in New York City today. More information about Miller and the company is available on www.nicolemiller.com

Celebrities, media, charitable organizatons

Nicole Miller is among those credited with ushering in an era of celebrity as model. In 2002, Minnie Driver, Gretchen Mol and Jill Hennessey walked her runway. Since then she has continually dressed many of the leading women in Hollywood as well as the biggest names in music and television.

Miller’s clothes appear on covers and in the pages of the world’s leading fashion and lifestyle magazines including Vogue, W, Interview, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire, Allure, In Style, Town & Country and Teen Vogue. She is a regular in features on style.com and has been covered on countless blogs and websites. She is also among designers communicating with clients and fans through the Twitter and Facebook on-line communities.

A lifelong supporter of organizations that work to preserve the earth and its environment, Miller has special interest in Riverkeeper (www.riverkeeper.org), The Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org), Save the Manatee (www.savethemanatee.org), Blue Ocean Institute (www.blueocean.org), and The Group for the East End (www.eastendenvironment.org).

Nicole Miller is a long-time resident of downtown New York City and together with her husband and son divides her time between the family’s city loft and weekend home in the Hamptons. She is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and was elected to its Board of Directors in 2006. [[Link title]]