SUCCESSFUL SURPRISE FOR MILLER
Byline: Leonard McCants
NEW YORK — Planning a surprise party for one of retailing’s best-known, well-connected and most dapper executives is no easy feat.
So, as Philip Miller gets ready to relinquish the chairman’s duties at Saks Fifth Avenue, his wife Anne and others set up an elaborate scheme to get him to the Harold Pratt House on the Upper East Side without any suspicions.
First, she telephoned Didier Grumbach, president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, and asked him to fabricate a party in honor of Pauline Trigere getting the French Legion of Honor. This decoy party, they figured, would get Miller to the fete.
Grumbach then called Trigere to fill her in. If only it would have been that easy.
Two weeks before the party on Thursday night, Miller said he would have to miss it because a business trip would take him to Hong Kong. Anne Miller, intent on seeing the party to fruition, changed his plans for him.
“I had to call the guy [Philip was meeting] in Hong Kong and tell him to cancel the meeting,” she said.
In the end, Miller had no idea what was afoot, a fact that did not bypass the many guests in attendance, including Mark Badgley and James Mischka, Elie Tahari, Adolfo, Mary McFadden, Kenneth Cole, Josie Natori, Rose Marie Bravo, Stanley Marcus, Ron Frasch, David Yurman, Arie Kopelman, Massimo Ferragamo, Brad Martin, Guy Peyrelongue, Evelyn Lauder and Nicole Fishelis.
“It’s amazing to get this amount of people to keep quiet about a surprise party,” said Bill Blass, among those there for the surprise. “In this industry, to keep a secret is a miracle.”
Diane Von Furstenberg, while more than thrilled to attend, she said, is not a fan of surprise parties for herself.
“But this is nice because it is for love and friendship,” she said, adding that she had lunch with Miller hours before the event.
The gracious and debonair Miller stepped down as chairman of Saks on Friday, while retaining an office there and continuing as a consultant to the company. The post of chairman of the Saks specialty chain will not be filled. Christina Johnson is president and chief executive officer of Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises, which includes the Saks stores, Off-5th outlets, catalog and Internet operation.
Miller, who joined Saks in 1990 as vice chairman, and rose to ceo, also held the top posts at Neiman Marcus and Marshall Field’s during his career. He’s been among the few fashion risk takers in the business, bringing flair to the companies he’s commanded.
At Saks, he experimented with new merchandise concepts, home shopping, and store formats, including launching Off-5th outlets.
When he entered the wood-paneled library of the Herald Pratt House, Miller’s jaw dropped, and true to form, he instantly thanked everyone. Then he settled down to take in the mostly private affair — the first surprise party that he’s ever been given — and enjoyed the dinner and videotaped testimony from industry executives and fashion designers.
“I gave my wife a surprise party when she was 40 years old,” Miller said. “I guess she’s getting me back.”