Exclusive | For 45 Years, Nicole Miller has been NYCs secret style weapon

Nearly 45 years after starting her fashion brand in the garment district, Nicole Miller is still all-in on New York.Four days a week, the designer treks from her Tribeca apartment to her Seventh Avenue office building — the same one where she built her fashion collection nearly 45 years ago.Under Miller’s influence, New Yorkers began grabbing up the “boho chic” staples — hobo bags, wide-leg jeans, velvet slip dresses, and romantic, billowing blouses — that still influence American style today.But before Miller built a brand worth nearly $700 million or dressed celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Beyoncé, she was like many high schoolers: making her clothes on a sewing machine at home in the Berkshires.That led to studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, where classmates included future bohemian icons like David Byrne and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads.After graduating in 1973, Miller beelined it to New York City.“Where else would you go?” she asked — or score a one-bedroom Upper East Side apartment for $240 a month? (Fourth-floor walkups in the neighborhood now run about $3,500.)Off-hours were spent at Studio 54, Max’s Kansas City, roller-skating at The Roxy, and attending Andy Warhol’s blind-date dinners at The Odeon, where everyone brought a blind date for someone else.

Miller became part of that artistic downtown scene through her college friends, meeting the pop art king through photographer Paige Powell.After early gigs as a design assistant, Miller joined the New York dress company P.J.Walsh, where she first met Bud Konheim, a brutally frank and fast-talking executive.

Though Miller was generally soft-spoken and relaxed, she found they made a good business pair, and in 1982, the duo quit their jobs to launch her namesake company.Konheim scraped together $100,000 from family and friends, and Miller pitched in $15,000 from her personal savings.The risk was worth it: The brand struck gold in its first year with an easy-to-wear dres...