EXCLUSIVE: Savannah Miller Puts a Stylish Spin on Uniform Dressing With Vivere
LONDON — After more than a decade, Savannah Miller has returned to the world of ready-to-wear with a new contemporary label called Vivere that launches next month online and at John Lewis stores in the U.K.
Miller, a Central Saint Martins graduate and mother of three, is a bridal designer who began her career with Twenty8Twelve by s. miller, a collection she launched in 2007 and codesigned with her actor sister Sienna Miller.
More from WWD
To Survive, Shopping Centers Must Move Beyond 'Cookie-cutter Environments,' Expert Says
Remo Ruffini Picks Up Honorary Degree at University of the Creative Arts
It showed regularly during London Fashion Week, often with a celebrity-stacked front row.
The sisters left the label in 2012, with Savannah Miller focusing on bridal with longstanding U.S. partners Justin Alexander. She also creates bespoke and made-to-measure gowns as part of her bridal offer.
In an interview Miller described Vivere as stylish, no-nonsense and accessibly priced. She said it offers go-to wardrobe pieces for day, night and weekend, with tailoring at the core.
Vivere, which means “to live” in Italian, will debut for fall, with prices ranging from 25 pounds for the Luella rib vest to 275 pounds for the Sadie oversize wool coat.
The collection will be sold on Viverelondon.com, johnlewis.com and through select John Lewis stores in England and Scotland.
In an interview, Miller said she believes there is a gaping hole in the marketplace for “functional, everyday” fashion at Vivere prices.
“I wanted to create a wardrobe that was really empowering for women, one that was comfortable and conscious [from an ESG perspective]. I don’t want people to spend 2,000 pounds on a suit; it just feels like daylight robbery,” Miller said.
She added that while her aesthetic has fundamentally remained the same, her priorities have changed since the Twenty8Twelve days.
“I feel like I have grown up enormously. I was 26 when I started Twenty8Twelve — and very frivolous, young and bohemian. Now I have a very serious life and job, and I need my clothes to meet my needs in a different way.
“The requirements you have as a woman in middle age are very different from those you have in your youth, and so the handwriting has evolved. But I still have the same taste, and I’ll still wear a boho dress on holiday in Ibiza,” she added.
Miller has focused on tailoring, pairing cigarette pants with a boxy blazer, and pleat-front trousers with a loose-fitting jacket. Both silhouettes, she said, can be dressed up or down.
She’s also created a series of “killer” cocktail dresses, soft “sensual” knits and outerwear, while the color palette takes in earthy green, navy, pink and brown.
Miller plans to introduce bags in the coming seasons, although she stops short of calling Vivere a lifestyle brand.
“I’d rather do less, and do it well,” she said. She won’t be returning to London Fashion Week either, adding that there are “so many better ways of sharing this collection, like one-to-one appointments.”
Miller has partnered with retail veteran Damian Hopkins on the project, and tapped supply chain experts Duygu Leblebici and Nilufer Polat for the executive team. The collection is made in Turkey where Leblebici and Polat have a factory.
She said the company wants to be “fully responsible” on all fronts, and to care for the people who are making the clothes.
Hopkins has worked in retail for more than 25 years, and specializes in building consumer and celebrity brands.
He was an early mover in sustainability, launching an end-to-end Fairtrade Cotton supply chain for U.K. retailers in 2008. He is the founder of PDS Radius Brands and an executive director of PDS Ltd., a global, consumer-driven manufacturing and sourcing platform.
While Miller and the team have chosen John Lewis as the exclusive launch partner, the plan going forward, she said, is to “open the books” to more wholesale partners, especially in the U.S., where Miller already does 75 percent of her bridal sales.
Beth Pettet, head of fashion brands at John Lewis, said, “Savannah’s take on the ‘new smart’ is sure to resonate with our customers and we look forward to adding the collection to our branded offering.”
Best of WWD
