Internationally renowned fashion designer, Nicole Miller, gracefully placed her heels down in Big D soil last week, to chat all things circling her new spring collection and to participate as the featured designer in the Legacy of Love Benefit and Fashion Show at Park Place Lexus. While it may be known to all that everything is bigger in Texas, the petite and outspoken designer proved that big things do come in small packages as she candidly engaged in small talks with DFW Style Daily involving her brand.  

  Nothing less than a woman on-the-go, we caught up with Miller as she sat privately in her makeup chair at Tootsies. Sans makeup and delightfully unashamed, the award-winning designer exuded natural confidence as she discussed her newest collection, her admiration with the Dallas woman, and her one-on-one vow for immaturity. Showcasing transparent vulnerability and a surprisingly quick-witted sense of humor, our discussion with Miller reveals why after many decades, she hails as an industry favorite. From the keys to success to future talks of menswear, read on to get up close and personal with Nicole Miller.   DFW Style Daily: Your spring/summer collection is really vibrant and stirs the inner travel bug within. What was the inspiration behind this latest collection? Nicole Miller: “It was based on Rio de Janeiro. There was this vintage movie called Flying Down to Rio with Delores del Rio. There was a great image of the girls dancing as the plane is flying. My team got all excited about the whole Rio thing and did the sidewalk, and then we did all the pineapples, tropical flowers, and all the fruit – we had such a fun time doing it. It was a really fun collection.”   Your current collection is a sea of prints and bold patterns. What’s the key to successfully engaging in the print on print trend? “I feel that it’s tricky if you’re trying to mix prints of different designers. I think a lot of times we (as designers) pair those things together already in the design [process] so then it makes more sense. Not that somebody who’s clever at putting prints together can’t do some crazy combination. I think as a rule, it’s a tricky thing to do – mixing prints. However, if you put prints in black and white, it’s very easy to mix with other pieces.”  

  You’re traveled from city to city promoting this new collection. Overall, what are your thoughts specifically on the Dallas woman – your target consumer here at Tootsies? "They’re all so attractive. Everybody is well taken care of. They really take care of themselves in a good way and they’re well groomed!”   Looking back over the span of your career, what can you attribute as the key to your success? “The key to my success is being so immature. Everybody on my staff is between 20 to 30 years old. I’m always hanging out with them, and I’m always interested in the new music or whatever is going on.”   Since you somewhat credit immaturity to your success, what are some of the ways that you indulge in this behavior? “We always do fun stuff. Every holiday I make everyone decorate Christmas tree ornaments. Just yesterday we did Easter eggs, and I hollowed out all of the Easter eggs myself. I’m really good at hollowing out the eggs. I’ve got a trick -- a little system. You just use a push pin and then shake the egg out. It becomes scrambled on the inside and then it comes out real easily.”  

  What is in the works for the Nicole Miller brand? “Right now we’re really working on our shoes and handbags. We made a mini collection of Fall handbags and they came out really well, but we really want to be much bigger in the handbag area. And the shoes have been out about two years and they’re just now starting to really get out there. So that’s one thing we’re really working on.”   Is there anything else in the near future that we can look forward to? “We’re still trying to develop our menswear more. It’s kind of conservative, and we’re still doing some of the men’s ties.”   All images via NicoleMiller.com.