Savannah Elizabeth Louise Miller (born 30 December 1978) is a British and American fashion designer. After working with

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

and Matthew Williamson, she created the label "Twenty8Twelve" with her sister,

Sienna Miller Sienna Rose Diana Miller (born 28 December 1981) is an American-British actress. Born in New York City and raised in London, she began her career as a photography model, appearing in the pages of Italian '' Vogue'' and for the 2003 Pirelli Cale ...

. In October 2012 she launched her own collection, "Savannah".

Early life

Miller was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Her father, Edwin Miller, is an American dealer in

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...

, previously a banker, while her mother, Josephine Miller, is a retired British model who was born in South Africa to British parents. She has a sister,

Sienna Sienna () is an earth pigment containing iron oxide and manganese oxide. In its natural state, it is yellowish brown, and it is called raw sienna. When heated, it becomes a reddish brown, and it is called burnt sienna.''Shorter Oxford English ...

, who is an actress, and two half-brothers, Charles and Stephen. Miller moved to London with her family in the 1980s. On leaving school she went to the Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, graduating in 2004 with a

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

BA degree in Fashion and Knitwear.Scarlett Kilcooley-O'Halloran
Savannah Miller
18 October 2012 ''vogue uk''Jessica Brinton, 'A Miller's Tale', in ''The Sunday Times Style magazine'' 20 August 2006

Career

Miller's first jobs were with

and Matthew Williamson. In 2006 it was announced that Miller's sister

was to design a "fashion capsule" for

Pepe Jeans Pepe Jeans London is a denim and casual wear jeans brand established in the Portobello Road area of London in 1973, and now based in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain. it is currently owned by M1 Group, a holding company in Beirut, Lebanon. C ...

; this project developed into a fashion label called Twenty8Twelve, still backed by Pepe Jeans, and its first collection, designed by the two sisters, was shown in September 2007. They worked together as joint creative directors until 2012. In October of that year Miller left Twenty8Twelve and launched her own collection, "Savannah". The first Savannah line focused on "luxurious basics" and was marketed by Nelly.com. This led on to a Spring 2013 collection, reported as "heavily influenced by the 1970s".Bel Jacobs,
Fashion designer Savannah Miller goes it alone with her new spring collection
''Metro'', 26 March 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2013: "And while Sienna is widely credited with bringing the concept of boho chic to the high street, it's clear Savannah shared the vision." The logo of the "Savannah" line is a

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

. Sometimes associated with the term "

boho-chic Boho-chic is a style of fashion drawing on various Bohemianism, bohemian and hippie influences, which, at its height in late 2005 was associated particularly with actress Sienna Miller, model Kate Moss in the United Kingdom and actress/business ...

", in 2006 Miller described a "real bohemian" as "someone who has the ability to appreciate beauty on a deep level, is a profound romantic, doesn't know any limits, whose world is their own creation, rather than living in a box". However, she dislikes the word "bohemian", and the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' used the term "rural chic" for a collection she designed and modelled for the Hong Kong label

Shanghai Tang Shanghai Tang () is a Hong Kong luxury fashion house founded in 1994 by Hong Kong businessman David Tang. The brand is known for its luxury homeware collection and fine bone china. In 1998, Richemont acquired David Tang's controlling stake ...

. Also an occasional model, Miller has appeared on the cover of ''Nylon'' magazine and ''Sunday Times Style''. In 2023, she made a comeback in ready-to-wear with the launch of the womenswear brand Vivere, tagged as 'new smart'.

Personal life

In 2005, Miller married Nick Skinner, a teacher of

Bushcraft Bushcraft is the use and practice of skills to survive and thrive in a natural environment. Bushcraft skills include foraging, hunting, fishing, firecraft, and tying knots. Woodcraft is a subset of bushcraft that focuses on survival skills for ...

from Devon. In 2013, after her fashion business collapsed, the couple sold their house in Gloucestershire and moved to

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, a negative experience that made them move back to Europe two years later. They then bought another house in

the Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

. They separated in 2018. In December 2022, Miller married James Whewell, heir to the Wyresdale Park estate.

Notes

External links

Savannah Spring collection
at nelly.com
Savannah Miller
at vogue.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Savannah 1978 births Alumni of Central Saint Martins American fashion designers American women fashion designers American voice actresses American people of South African descent English fashion designers British women fashion designers English people of American descent English people of South African descent Living people Fashion designers from New York City Artists from London