Name	Nicole Miller
Height
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	03/20/1951
Place of Birth	Lenox, Massachusetts
Famous for

Nicole Miller uniquely combines the ideas of elegance and rebellion to achieve a fun and subtle sexiness that is the essence of modern femininity. In her hands, the drape and cut of designer clothes are transformed to a younger, more sophisticated look.

An American born to a French mother, Miller was dually trained at the Rhode Island School of Design and Paris’ Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. RISD inspired her sense of freedom and creativity, and Chambre Syndicale a mastery of the classical techniques of couture.

Miller’s silhouettes achieve a natural body consciousness that is sensual and dynamic. Often inspired by film imagery and exotic cultures, she is the pre-eminent American among fashion’s print and color elite. Her material selections are guided by a commitment to technological advance; she is often the first to introduce a new fabric and popularize it for wider use.

Outside the design studio, Miller is equally influential. She made fashion history when Minnie Driver, Gretchen Mol and Jill Hennessey walked a fall runway, ushering in an era of actress-as-model. A recent re-design of freestanding stores reversed another widely followed fashion trend as each was given a look that is unique and distinct. Miller’s rationale: a world fatigued by the sameness of chain stores and too-rigid designer identities.

The non-conformist glamour of Miller’s clothes has caught the attention of many in Hollywood – with Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Jessica Simpson, Daryl Hannah, Hillary Duff and Felicity Huffman among those recently appearing in her designs.

A total of 20 Nicole Miller freestanding stores are located in major cities across the United States. Nicole Miller Signature and Collection apparel and accessories are also available at fine specialty stores and Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks and Bloomingdales. For the home, Miller designs a luxury furniture collection offered through 55 fine galleries across the United States and Canada; and an exclusive range of home items is available at more than 850 bed bath and beyond locations. Motivated by a desire to make her aesthetic available to a broader range of people, Miller designs the Nicole by Nicole Miller collections offered at more than 600 JCPenney stores nationwide.

In favor of all programs to protect the earth and our environment, Miller actively supports the Rocky Mountain Institute and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Riverkeeper. Together with her husband Kim and son Palmer, Miller divides her time between her homes in New York City and Sag Harbor, NY.

Miller grew up in the Berkshires, studied apparel design at the Rhode Island School of Design, and spent a year abroad at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris before starting her career as a designer at the P.J. Walsh dress company. She spent seven years there, eventually partnering up with the company's president, Bud Konheim, to launch the Nicole Miller fashion line in 1982. With Miller focused on the creative end of things and Konheim managing the business, they opened the first Nicole Miller boutique in New York four years later. But the label struggled to turn a profit at first, and it wasn't until Miller used some excess fabric to create a tie line that the label earned its first hit. The ties, which featured a pattern of colored ticket stubs, caught the attention of a buyer from the Metropolitan Opera gift shop; within two years, the line was generating $12 million in sales a year and Miller had moved on to produce a range of men's accessories. Miller made a splash of the womenswear scene with her collection of cocktail dresses; by the '90s, she'd expanded to bridal wear and had launched a more youthful line called Nicole. A sportier line, millergirl, debuted in 2003 and the Nicole Miller Signature line followed in 2005.

Miller may not be the hippest name on the block, but in an industry where today's hot young things are usually gone tomorrow, she's demonstrated staying power—and built an enormously successful business in the process. Her "little black dress" is iconic and her bridesmaid dresses remain classics. And she's managed to branch out into every category imaginable, producing eyewear, children's wear, home furnishings, golf wear, and skin care, and stamping her name on everything from cigar accessories to hospital gowns. Miller's also credited with starting several industry trends: She was one of the first designers, for example, to start putting celebs on the runway instead of models.