Savannah Elizabeth Louise Miller (born 30 December 1978) is an American-English fashion designer. After working with

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

and

Matthew Williamson Matthew Williamson (born 23 October 1971) is an interior designer known for his use of bold, colourful and carefully constructed designs. Early years Matthew Williamson was born in Manchester and studied in Loreto College until he was 17 years ...

, she created the label "Twenty8Twelve" with her sister,

Sienna Miller Sienna Rosie Diana Miller (born December 28, 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 c ...

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

Early life

Miller was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. 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 in or draws on Chinese ...

, 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 (from it, terra di Siena, meaning "Siena earth") is an earth pigment containing iron oxide and manganese oxide. In its natural state, it is yellowish brown and is called raw sienna. When heated, it becomes a reddish brown and is call ...

, 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 Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

, graduating in 2004 with a

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

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

. 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. Carlos Ortega was the CEO, and owns more than 20% of the company. History Pepe ...

; 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 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/businesswoman Mary-Ka ...

", 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'' 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 i ...

. Also an occasional model, Miller has appeared on the cover of ''Nylon'' magazine and ''Sunday Times Style''.

Personal life

In 2005, Miller married Nick Skinner, a teacher of

Bushcraft Bushcraft is the use and practice of skills, thereby acquiring and developing knowledge and understanding, in order to survive and thrive in a natural environment. Bushcraft skills provide for the basic physiological necessities for human li ...

from Devon. At her home, Miller is an enthusiastic cook and gardener. In Gloucestershire, where the family arrived in 2009, she was inspired by Alys Fowler's ''The Edible Garden'' to plant a vegetable garden, and she also grew French and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

and sweet-smelling roses. She has described the garden before her arrival as "worryingly ornamental". In 2013 Miller and her first husband sold their house in Gloucestershire and moved their family to

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. However, in 2015 they returned to England, after a variety of troubles, including a boating accident that happened to one of their sons. They then bought another house in

the Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

.Savannah Miller: I lost everything in Panama, I couldn't go on". ''Sunday Telegraph'', 9 September 2015
/ref> They separated in 2018. In 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 Artists from New York City Artists from London