Nicole Miller Is the Ultimate Cool Girl

Former Marist student interviews NYC fashion icon

Photo by Emily Spennato

Nicole Miller has always been the ultimate cool girl. As she greets us in her New York City showroom, she fits the description. Her hair and makeup were still perfect at 3 p.m. on a New York Tuesday. Six hours earlier, Miller’s audience was that of Good Morning America, chatting about the preceding night’s MET Gala styles. Now, her audience is the ladies of Nicole Miller Manayunk – social media intern Molly Dalton, marketing and retail coordinator, Zara Barrett, and myself, Emily Spennato, a former intern, writer and Marist alumna. For us, it’s a big moment – Nicole Miller. But the atmosphere is relaxed. Miller really is the ultimate cool girl.

She has curated her brand to what has been described as the perfect balance of uptown and downtown. Her Seventh Avenue workspace reflects that image; business as usual, but never boring. As a designer, she stays true to her personal style – classic with edge, like her iconic red hair. Bold colors and prints on classic shapes are one of her specialties. Luckily for Miller, it’s now an industry propelled by innovation and technology, which are two things she has always prioritized. As any business owner knows, these were also key survival skills during the pandemic.

Uptown, Downtown, and All Over the World

While as a designer she’s New York City through and through, Miller’s fashion roots can be traced to Paris and Rhode Island. Born in Fort Worth, Texas and raised in Massachusetts and New York, she spent time developing her skills at the Rhode Island School of Design. However, it was during her year at L'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris that she learned to treat her designs like a work of art. Born to a Parisian mother, Miller always knew the influence of French fashion and culture. I was also able to get a taste of the French way. After I graduated from Marist, I pursued a master’s degree at the American University of Paris, so I resonated with what Miller said next. “It was very different from an American teaching institute,” she explained. “You had to do everything with a needle and thread. We had to mark the grain lines with thread and it took forever. You would make this whole dress and stitch up all the seams and then you’d present it to the teacher. She would look at it and say ‘C’est pas chic,’ and walk away. After a while it kind of hit home that you were working on a piece of art.”

Tough love seemed to work well for her, however, as it was these skills and fabric manipulation techniques that helped shape her career. She leaned into what she learned during her education and became known for her pleating and draping. These styles have shaped her iconic dresses. “I’ve always loved my tucks and pleats,” she said.

Coming out of a year where comfort was the priority (Goodbye, forsaken prairie dresses!), Miller is thrilled to be designing for a world with events again. Dresses are and have always been her specialty. “I have to say I’m glad that trends came back full circle for body conscious shapes. Everything was so Victorian and I’ve never been one for that. I love bright colors and I’ve always been good at body cons.” Miller’s playful and bright Spring 2022 Collection mirrors how people are feeling about fashion again -- excited! Miller was no stranger to the hardships of the pandemic as a designer and businesswoman. “During the pandemic, we did a lot of things ourselves. We were tie dying and embroidering. It made us more self-sufficient. We started doing more upcycling as well.” For her fall collection, Miller features upcycled flannel patchwork in a not-so-subtle nod to the 90’s schoolgirl vibe.

Miller adapts to change by continuing to design for her wearers in addition to what she is inspired by. Nicole Miller Spring 2022 Collection combined “nature with abstractions, full of bright psychedelic florals, surreal prints and abstract shapes.” It channeled the work of Polish pop artist Wojciech Fangor and featured prints such as “My Happy Place” designed for a crewneck sweater, maxi evening gown and button-down blouse. Miller’s youthful and playfulness keeps her customers surprised and excited to see something new.

Riding the Wave of Tech

Whether it’s a restaurant, vacation destination or great fashion trend, Miller has always been the first in line to try something new, as that’s how you gain perspective and inspiration. However, as a designer for the digital age, she also knows that people are always going to want what’s next. “I really feel like sometimes you’re the victim of your own success,” she said. “You keep making this dress and you say, ‘I don’t want to make this dress anymore!’, but people keep buying it and then ask why you don’t make anything new. Well, you didn’t want anything else!”

Miller saw joining the COVET Fashion app/video game after its initial launch in 2013 as an opportunity to share more of her styles with a wider demographic in hopes to fix this problem. The video game and styling tool, which is available in the Apple and Google Play stores, allows users to discover and engage with real fashion brands and trends, and get recognized for their style. As one of the designers featured, Miller has seen it as a great opportunity for her company, since the app has only grown as digital media becomes more relevant, especially after the pandemic caused a surge in online shopping. “We’ve been with COVET since the very beginning,” she said. “It’s been very beneficial to us and has a very broad demographic.”

That demographic is building the future of the fashion industry off the foundation that Miller laid. With the onset of technology came influencers and digital media experts. When it comes to choosing her own influencers and style representation, she says brand identification is important to her. “I’m more interested in developing relationships with people who really like my designs, and that takes time.”

Sustainability and the Dreaded F-Word

Many designers and business owners find the digital landscape difficult to navigate, but Miller utilizes technology to streamline sustainability. “I always liked technology and advancements, but I feel like a lot of focus on sustainability is greenwashing,” she explains. “I think the real problem is mass market companies producing at mass volumes for people who just think they can throw that stuff away when it falls apart. When models come in for casting and they have a cool pair of shorts or shoes, they get them at Zara. Fast-fashion is a real problem.”

Miller tries to incorporate sustainability into every collection, whether it be through using fabrics made of recycled materials, upcycling garments, or embroidering pieces by hand. She stresses finding recycled fabrics that look quality enough is difficult. “Something like a great Italian fabric that is made of recycled fibers; I love them when you can find them, but very often these fabrics are more expensive and you have to make sure if you are buying one, it’s really special and people will pay for its uniqueness. If it just looks like any other thing, you’re not going to be able to sell it.” Like a true innovator, Miller also knows when to think outside the box, even in the way she gives back. “I refuse to do charity t-shirts,” she says with a laugh. “Do something cool. There are cooler things we can be doing to support a charity.” Spoken like the ultimate cool girl.

What’s the Philly Connection?

Philadelphia fashion innovator Mary Dougherty first met Nicole Miller in the early 80s when she began representing her in her wholesale business. Miller’s business partner, Bud Konheim, convinced Dougherty to open a licensed Nicole Miller store in Philadelphia. But where? Originally, they had their sights set on the hustle, bustle and glamor of center city. However, there was a long-shot option. At the time, Manayunk was an up-and-coming neighborhood destination with a cool restaurant scene, but it was in need of another retail gem. Suddenly, there was an internationally recognized designer name on Main Street, and Manayunk solidified its dot on the Philadelphia map.

It was Manayunk’s innovation that pushed Mary Dougherty to open the doors of the first Nicole Miller Philadelphia store in 1994, and it’s the same innovation and scrappy business model that’s kept them thriving since. In 1997, Mary was already opening a second location at the Bellevue Hotel, fulfilling that dream of also being in center city Philadelphia. Jillian Dunn, longtime retail expert, oversaw the Bellevue location for eight years before rejoining Nicole Miller Manayunk as managing partner in 2020… just a few months before the pandemic. 

Throughout their careers, Dougherty and Dunn have experienced social turmoil from September 11th to the financial crisis to political unrest, but nothing jilted the fashion industry quite like the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the city of Philadelphia ordered businesses to shut down in March 2020, home drop-offs, Zoom appointments and online shopping became the norm for Nicole Miller Manayunk. Every social event disappeared, and so did a need for Miller’s iconic evening wear. After canceling every gown order, Dougherty and Dunn shifted their market focus to sportswear. In addition, they curated a space for virtual shopping appointments, and partnered with influencers to connect with new customers. And even in the hardest of times, Dougherty and Dunn managed to keep their philanthropic spirits alive. The team sold thousands of masks and donated partial proceeds to COVID-19 relief fund, Fuel the Fight, Homefront NJ and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Conquering What’s Next

The Nicole Miller Manayunk store has been to Manayunk for 28 years what Nicole Miller has been to New York’s fashion scene -- a constant for those familiar, a hidden gem for fresh eyes. One of Miller’s most valuable assets has been her ability to channel what works for her as a designer, in addition to asking, “What comes next?” However, the pandemic proved that adaptability is much more valuable than foresight.

As young professionals in the industry, Dalton, Barrett and myself have learned from Dougherty and Dunn the longer version of what Miller has sat down and told us: that there is a complexity and power to the game of dress-up and fashion doesn’t tell you when to change, it shows you. Customers don’t always know exactly what they want, and they trust us to tell them. It’s a game more frustrating than people on the outside realize, but we’ve learned to make our moves like Miller. Because at the end of the day, we’re just cool girls taking it from the ultimate cool girl herself.