“Garden Party!” designer Nicole Miller called her resort collection. In lieu of good girl-bad girl juxtaposition you’d normally expect from the designer, Miller offered up a more all-around feminine fete. Lightly ruffled, smocked and fluid transitional midi- to minidresses came in a variety of florals; even her denim jackets, which Miller styled to be “a little more grown-up,” were given floral prints and baby pink button-hold embroidery accents. Aside from one stellar, more toughish-girl reversible quilted leopard and floral coat, the collection leaned flirty and fun; but Miller’s biggest callout for the season resulted from her antiplastic initiative through playful — but serious meaning — embroidered offerings.
“What is really funny, I brought in this garbage bag one day because I wanted to use it as the embroidery on a shirt, and my assistant tried the garbage bag on. She literally cut open the bottom, put on the plastic garbage bag and said, “I want a tank top like that!” and I said “oh you’re getting one.”
The designer was motioning to wide-neck loose tanks with smiley faces, flowers or recycling patches and texts that were campy and cute; there was even a Chinatown iteration. The “Have a Nice Day,” “Thank You” and “Please Return to a Participating Store for Recycling” texts were also embroidered on the backs of jean jackets.
“So that’s my little bit about getting the message out,” the designer quipped. Although maybe not purposeful, the ironic play of “trash” and florals made for a fun lineup.
