Nicole Miller
Encyclopedia
Nicole Miller is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, mother and wife who was born in Texas and raised in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Miller attended the Rhode Island School of Design
where she earned a BFA in Apparel Design. She studied for a year at L'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne
where she was trained to drape fabric and study the classical techniques of couture. Miller described her Parisian training as "intense," but explained that it gave her training in fabric manipulation, which became a signature of her designs.
Miller's first shop opened in 1986 on Madison Avenue. The brand has grown to 20 boutiques in major cities across the United States.
and is sold in a number of high-end department stores. Miller designs an extensive collection for J.C. Penney
and a home furnishing collection for Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Of her style, the designer has said: "I've always been downtown and uptown. I've had a lot of artist friends and I was always a little bit of a renegade." Her modern design aesthetic is known for its bright prints and patterns.
. Her father was an engineer at General Electric. Her father was great influence on young Miller; she attributes her ability to make clothing to her father's engineer-like mind. Miller said: "The way you figure out how to make something is engineering."
Her mother, on the other hand, "hated" living in America and insisted dressing her daughters in a French-influenced style. When Miller was asked by the Mattel
toy company to design a Barbie
doll, she claimed to have never owned a Barbie herself because her mother insisted that she and her sister play with French dolls. Since December 2009 Miller's Barbie has been featured in an ongoing exhibit, Barbie: The Fashion Experience, at the The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
.
and graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design
, Miller interned with legendary dress designer Clovis Ruffin in New York City. Miller began working as head designer at P.J. Walsh, a dress manufacturer. There, she was hired by the president of the company, Bud Konheim. Konheim said one of the reasons he hired Miller was for her belief that design and business can be successful combination. In 1982, Konheim started the company Nicole Miller with Nicole.
Miller draws inspiration from a wide range of influences including cinema, contemporary art, mid-20th century cinema, contemporary art, mid-20th century architecture and exotic cultures.
In 2002, Miller designed costumes for the Houston-based Stages Repertory Theatre
production of García Lorca's "Blood Wedding,"
In a departure from designing adult fashions, Miller designed a Sesame Street
line of clothing for babies and toddlers in 2004. She also created a line of makeup products for Melaleuca
.
Since 2005, Miller has designed a line of affordable clothes, handbags, footwear, fashion jewelry and other accessories for J.C. Penney
. J.C. Penney credits this collaboration as result of extensive customer input. Miller also designs a home furnishings collection that is distributed through Bed Bath and Beyond.
Celebrities of varying ages including Angelica Huston, Beyonce Knowles
, Angelina Jolie
, Brooke Shields
, Leann Rimes
, Lauren Hutton
, Jennifer Stone
, Susan Sarandon
and Eva Longoria
have worn, and continue to wear, her designs. Miller designed clothes for singer Cyndi Lauper's
world tour. She created gowns for Sheryl Crow
to wear at the Grammys.
Miller and her partner, Kohnheim, have been in business together for over 28 years; the label has brought in $650 million in annual sales.
Currently, Miller's women's collection apparel is sold in more than 1,200 independent specialty stores and namesake boutiques in cities such as New York
, Los Angeles
, Miami, Chicago
, Atlanta, Philadelphia and in the affluent resort town of La Jolla. Her fashion line is also sold in department stores such as, Neiman Marcus
, Saks Fifth Avenue
, Bloomingdale's
and Nordstrom
.
neighborhood and a weekend home in Sag Harbor, NY.
Miller is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America
and serves on its board of directors. Nicole is an avid collector of contemporary art and French modern furniture. Her art collection includes work by Damien Loeb, John Stango
, Ellen Gallagher, Andy Warhol
and Le Corbusier.
Miller attended the Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
where she earned a BFA in Apparel Design. She studied for a year at L'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne
Fédération française de la couture
The Fédération française de la couture, du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode is the French fashion industry governing clothing. The Federation was created in 1973, growing out of an older trade union , the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne which was created in...
where she was trained to drape fabric and study the classical techniques of couture. Miller described her Parisian training as "intense," but explained that it gave her training in fabric manipulation, which became a signature of her designs.
Miller's first shop opened in 1986 on Madison Avenue. The brand has grown to 20 boutiques in major cities across the United States.
and is sold in a number of high-end department stores. Miller designs an extensive collection for J.C. Penney
J.C. Penney
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many...
and a home furnishing collection for Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Of her style, the designer has said: "I've always been downtown and uptown. I've had a lot of artist friends and I was always a little bit of a renegade." Her modern design aesthetic is known for its bright prints and patterns.
Young life
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Miller was raised in Lenox, Massachusetts. Her father and Parisian-born mother, met in World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Her father was an engineer at General Electric. Her father was great influence on young Miller; she attributes her ability to make clothing to her father's engineer-like mind. Miller said: "The way you figure out how to make something is engineering."
Her mother, on the other hand, "hated" living in America and insisted dressing her daughters in a French-influenced style. When Miller was asked by the Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
toy company to design a Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
doll, she claimed to have never owned a Barbie herself because her mother insisted that she and her sister play with French dolls. Since December 2009 Miller's Barbie has been featured in an ongoing exhibit, Barbie: The Fashion Experience, at the The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the world's largest children's museum. It is located in the United Northwest Area neighborhood on Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums. It is with five floors of exhibit halls...
.
Early career
After completing studies at the L'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture ParisienneFédération française de la couture
The Fédération française de la couture, du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode is the French fashion industry governing clothing. The Federation was created in 1973, growing out of an older trade union , the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne which was created in...
and graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
, Miller interned with legendary dress designer Clovis Ruffin in New York City. Miller began working as head designer at P.J. Walsh, a dress manufacturer. There, she was hired by the president of the company, Bud Konheim. Konheim said one of the reasons he hired Miller was for her belief that design and business can be successful combination. In 1982, Konheim started the company Nicole Miller with Nicole.
Creative aesthetic
Her signature style has historically been black or boldly colored—with the cut of the clothes most important. Her main concern has always been proportions, curves and necklines. Her designs are known to be sexy, yet classic. She is a self-identified fabric junkie credited with popularizing many futuristic fabrics. Her styles range from body-conscious cocktail dresses, to wedding attire, to lounge wear, but she is best known for her form-flattering dresses.Miller draws inspiration from a wide range of influences including cinema, contemporary art, mid-20th century cinema, contemporary art, mid-20th century architecture and exotic cultures.
Company
In 1986, Miller opened her first shop on Madison Avenue. Miller's fashion line launched in the mid 1980s with a conversational print men's tie collection that became a hit in the fashion world for a number of years. Miller made headlines in September 1998 by presenting her spring 1999 clothing line one week ahead of her French counterparts, becoming the first American to do so.In 2002, Miller designed costumes for the Houston-based Stages Repertory Theatre
Stages Repertory Theatre
Stages Repertory Theatre is a theatre company in the city of Houston, Texas. It generally produces more experimental plays in a more intimate setting than the city's prestigious Alley Theatre: the Houston Chronicle calls it "the equivalent of off-Broadway in Houston".-History:Stages Repertory...
production of García Lorca's "Blood Wedding,"
In a departure from designing adult fashions, Miller designed a Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
line of clothing for babies and toddlers in 2004. She also created a line of makeup products for Melaleuca
Melaleuca
Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae known for its natural soothing and cleansing properties. There are well over 200 recognised species, most of which are endemic to Australia...
.
Since 2005, Miller has designed a line of affordable clothes, handbags, footwear, fashion jewelry and other accessories for J.C. Penney
J.C. Penney
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many...
. J.C. Penney credits this collaboration as result of extensive customer input. Miller also designs a home furnishings collection that is distributed through Bed Bath and Beyond.
Celebrities of varying ages including Angelica Huston, Beyonce Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
, Leann Rimes
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...
, Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton is an American model and actress. She is best-known for her starring roles in the movies American Gigolo and Lassiter, and also for her fashion modeling career.-Personal life:...
, Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Lindsay Stone is an American actress best known for playing Harper Finkle on the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place and Harriet Welsh in the Disney Channel film Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.-Life:...
, Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
and Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
have worn, and continue to wear, her designs. Miller designed clothes for singer Cyndi Lauper's
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
world tour. She created gowns for Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
to wear at the Grammys.
Miller and her partner, Kohnheim, have been in business together for over 28 years; the label has brought in $650 million in annual sales.
Currently, Miller's women's collection apparel is sold in more than 1,200 independent specialty stores and namesake boutiques in cities such as New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Miami, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Atlanta, Philadelphia and in the affluent resort town of La Jolla. Her fashion line is also sold in department stores such as, Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth...
, Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...
, Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
and Nordstrom
Nordstrom
Nordstrom, Inc. is an upscale department store chain in the United States, founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. Initially a shoe retailer, the company today also sells clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and in some locations, home furnishings...
.
Personal life
Miller and her husband, financier Kim Taipale, were married in 1996 by then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. They have one son and divide their time between New York City's TribecaTriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...
neighborhood and a weekend home in Sag Harbor, NY.
Miller is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America
Council of Fashion Designers of America
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. is a not-for-profit trade association of over 350 of America’s foremost fashion and accessory designers. As of 2009, Diane von Fürstenberg is the group's President and Steven Kolb is the Executive Director...
and serves on its board of directors. Nicole is an avid collector of contemporary art and French modern furniture. Her art collection includes work by Damien Loeb, John Stango
John Stango
- Biography :Born and raised in working-class Philadelphia, Frances Elaine Rockwell, Stango's mother, was a painter. He attended Tyler School of Art at Temple University and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Graphic Design. After graduation, Stango was hired by Macy's and...
, Ellen Gallagher, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
and Le Corbusier.
Television appearances
- Iron ChefIron Chefis a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1992, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended...
(2009) as a guest judge. - The Chopping BlockThe Chopping Block (U.S. TV series)The Chopping Block is an American reality television series, based on the Australian reality television series of the same name. The series aired on the NBC network and followed participants in an attempt to open a restaurant. It is hosted by British celebrity chef Marco Pierre White.The first...
(2009) as herself (Episode 3). - America's Next Top ModelAmerica's Next Top ModelAmerica's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
(2004) as a guest judge (Season 3, Episode 7). - The Apprentice (2004) as herself.
- Miss Universe Pageant (2002) as a guest judge.
- The Price Is RightThe Price Is Right (U.S. game show)The Price Is Right is an American game show which was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Contestants compete to identify the pricing of merchandise to win cash and prizes. The show is well-known for its signature line of "Come on down!" when the announcer directs newly selected contestants to...
(2011) as a guest presenter. - Rocco's Dinner PartyRocco's Dinner PartyRocco's Dinner Party is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo. Each week, three chefs are challenged to craft the perfect dinner party for celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito and his guests. The contestants are judged on their cooking, service, and décor...
(2011) as a guest.
Filmography
- "Picture Me" (2009). Directors: Sara Ziff and Ole Schell. A documentary about the inside world of modeling. Miller appears as herself.