Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Nicole Miller Tries Too Hard To Be Hip

Designer: Nicole Miller

Image by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Mary Kay

Date: Friday, February 9, 2018
Location: West Village-based Industria
Jewish? We’re not sure, but if we had to guess, it would be a yes. Either way, CEO Bud Konheim is definitely Jewish (although some of the stuff he says makes us wish he wasn’t).

Nicole Miller, like Tory Burch, imagines her customer to be a jetsetter, a woman of the world. But perhaps she is feeling the pressure to imbue her clothes with a bit of downtown chic. And so we get a collection filled with fleece-lined leather jackets, the requisite open coat lined in a contrast color revealing a mini skirt with a slit up to there, a leather playsuit bedecked in New York-inspired patches, and sweatshirt dresses (in a Nicole Miller-esque floral print, of course). Most appalling, however, was the obvious nod to Juicy Couture: There were velour pants with patches and a particularly hideous floral sequin sweatpants.

But there were high notes too. The strongest pieces were the ones that embraced Nicole Miller’s feminine essence, specifically the florals. The blue-toned watercolor floral knee-high boots really stood out as a statement piece, and was expertly paired with a asymmetrical floral dresses in contrasting colors. If Miller would have stuck to a collection of fun, feminine frocks, this could have been a homerun for the brand.

Michelle Honig is the style writer at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.