LIM College, which focuses on the global business of fashion and lifestyle, will present its 80th annual student-produced fashion show on April 4 at 6 p.m. at The Glasshouse at 660 12th Avenue in New York.
The show is planned, produced and executed entirely by LIM students. This year’s theme is “Timeless Threads,” reflecting the cyclical nature of fashion and what it means for style to be timeless. It recognizes classic silhouettes, recurring trends, evergreen looks, upcycling, recycling and sustainability.
This year, the presenting sponsor of the LIM College Fashion Show is Nicole Miller. Miller is playing an integral role, mentoring students in multiple phases of show design and execution, and coaching emerging designers throughout the process. In addition, she is lending 10 looks from the Nicole Miller archive to be highlighted on the runway, demonstrating the enduring appeal of classic glamor.
It’s the first time the LIM College fashion show has had a designer mentor as a presenting sponsor.
In addition to Miller, the work of Mondo Guerra, winner of “ProjectRunway All Stars” Season One, and Chris Mena, founder and creative director of Made by Mena, will be featured on the runway along with others in the eight-scene show.
The fashion show is an opportunity for students “to learn by doing.” The students are responsible for all elements of the show planning and execution. Guided by experienced faculty and industry mentors, students demonstrate their abilities and learn about styling, marketing, event planning and production, visuals, industry relations, among other things. Through the show process, they also make career connections and have their work seen by industry professionals.
Nicole Miller at her showroom.
George Chinsee/WWD
“Throughout my entire career, I have learned by doing, observing, experimenting, taking risks and working hard,” said Miller. “The LIM College Fashion Show gives students an invaluable opportunity to do all these things across the disciplines of styling, marketing, design, event planning and production, visuals and industry relations,” she said.
“The fashion industry is extremely competitive, complicated and challenging, and putting together a professional-level show gives students a unique opportunity to understand so many facts of the business and make connections with industry professionals. I am happy to help shape the next generation of fashion leaders,” said Miller.
Miller told WWD that she enjoys seeing the avant-garde work of young designers and attended many fashion shows of emerging designers during the recent New York Fashion Week. Among the fashion shows she attended were Ashlyn, Meruert Tolegen, Zankov, Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen, Caroline Zimbalist, Luar, and Diotima, designed by Rachel Scott.
She got involved with LIM College through Carolyn D’Angelo, senior managing director, head of brand operations at Gordon Brothers (which owns Miller’s company), and Natasha Verma, founder of Verma Foundation and Fox 5 New York anchor with whom she did a charity event. Previously, Miller has done mentoring at the design schools. “I’ve done a lot of critiques at RISD (she is an alumna), and I’ve done several FIT classes over the years, as well as Pratt,” she said.
As for her LIM role, she said, “I will be helping them, mentoring them and advising them on their collections.” She said these students are studying design, but it’s not their major, but it could be their minor. LIM is known for teaching the business of fashion and merchandising. The show will have eight segments, and two of those segments will be designed by students whom she is mentoring. Five sections will be outside designers and emerging designers. One is a former intern of hers who went to Rhode Island School of Design (Mena), and the finale segment is her group of archival gowns.
Miller said the students came up to her showroom for a tour and a meet and greet with all the departments, such as design and marketing, and she’ll be working with the students one-on-one. Each of the segments will produce about 10 looks.
Nicole Miller meets the students at her showroom: Aanya Talesara, Ethan Ackermann, Joy Navarro, Nicole Miller, Michio Gayle (back row), Layla Dickerson, Alena Rescigno (back row), Sahai Taylor, LIM alumna and mentor Dom Alexander (back row), and Daniella Ortiz.
Courtesy of LIM College
The students also helped her select her archival looks. She will meet with the students a couple of times and provide feedback on the designs that they have sketched for their segments.
Asked what advice she plans to give them, she said she intends to stress how important quality is. “I went to all these [fashion] shows…and what really stood out was the clothes that were incredibly well made and quality. I think that’s really important, even if you have a crazy and funky weird idea. It’s really nice when things are sewn really well,” said Miller.
She said Meruert Tolegen’s clothing, for example, was really edgy and avant-garde, “but they were also beautifully made of beautiful fabrics.” She said of Ashlyn, a Korean designer, “her clothes were beautifully made.”
Miller, who started her business in 1982, has always had New York factories and produced clothing all over the world.
Discussing whether it’s very hard today for a young designer to come out of school and build a company like Miller did, she said, “A lot of these kids want to be stars overnight. A lot of people don’t want to work for other people or intern. They just want to open up their own business right away. I think it’s really good to get experience. I think those kids who worked for top designers, that’s a good foothold for them. It’s a good connection for them to move forward. I always think interning or taking some low-level job at a design house is a very good way to get your foot in the door and make connections,” said Miller.
“Some people manage to be successful right out of school,” said Miller, citing Rachel Scott of Diotima as having a very unique perspective. She’s so good with that crochet,” she said.
As for her own trajectory, while she was a student at RISD she interned at Clovis Ruffin, and got her first job there. Then she worked for Rain Cheetas, and saw an ad for a designer at P.J. Walsh, and that’s where she met Bud Konheim, who became her business partner in her namesake company.
Asked how hard she will be on students and whether she gives them the freedom to do whatever they want, she said, “I always try to phrase it nicely and not be critical. The last thing I did, which was a big mentorship thing at FIT, some of the projects were brilliant. I especially liked the girl I picked to win. Her collection was beautifully executed, it was clever, it was trendy, it was innovative, it checked all the boxes. There were a few stubborn students in the class who would have a great idea, and they picked the wrong fabrication for it. First they showed me sketches and then they showed me their fabrication, and I said it’s really not going to work in that material. They were really stubborn and they made it anyway, and then they’d come back and clearly needed some help.”
Miller said her company doesn’t manufacture anything anymore, and everything is licensed. Today, she does some custom pieces and celebrity dressing, but the bulk of her business is through 40 global licensees, which make products ranging from dresses and denim to jewelry, fragrance, home and fashion accessories. She is also on QVC with a Nicole by Nicole Miller apparel line.
While Miller did fashion shows for 30 years, she doesn’t miss them.
“I did 30 years of fashion shows back to back and then we stopped during COVID and did presentations for a bit. Right now at this point, I took all these trips last year. I couldn’t have done all these things. I felt like fashion week messes up your Christmas holiday and messes up your summer holiday. I could always do a fashion show again, nothing’s stopping me. I could always do my signature collection. Or I can do an archive collection,” she said.
Asked what archival looks she plans to show on the runway, she said it will be exclusively gowns.
“I’ll pick some of my favorite gowns,” she said. Her segment is called “Classic Glamour: A Metropolitan Moment.” In it, she plans to include a dress from fall 1992 that Naomi Campbell wore on the runway. It features hearts in the print. “There was only one of those and somebody got rid of it and we found it on First Dibs and paid $600 for it,” she said.
Miller recalled that her first show she ever did featured Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista.
Miller sold her company to Gordon Brothers in 2022. Her role is now founder, but she’s still involved in all the prints and approves all the QVC looks. She also designs custom looks for celebrities.
The fashion show’s audience will be made up of prospective LIM students and their families, current students and their friends and families, alumni, industry partners, board members, faculty and staff, sponsors and invited guests. Last year’s event sold out with more than 1,000 in attendance.
Scott Carnz, Provost of LIM College, said, “LIM is thrilled to have Nicole Miller as the sponsor of our show, and even more excited to have her so personally involved in giving our students an up-close look at many of the potential career paths available to them. It is incredible that she is so generously sharing her time, experiences, and talents with the students. Our audience the night of the show will also benefit from a look at some of the timeless classics Nicole Miller has designed over her long and prodigious career.”
Upward of 120 students will be participating in the show.
According Carnz, “The overarching show is related to sustainability, and the students are trying to demonstrate various takes on what sustainability can mean in the industry. Each scene has a different take of sustainability The students identified designers in the city who reflect the various aspects of sustainability.”
The eight segments are: Y2Kouture (Student designers); The Art of the Dandy (LaTouche); Retro Revival: Resurgence of the ’70s (Mondo Guerra); Beyond the Fabric (Natalia Fedner); Renovated Runway (Made by Mena (Chris Mena); Tomorrow Today (Student Stylists present looks from Janet Mandell), Luxe Reduxe (to be announced), and Classic Glamour: A Metropolitan Moment (Nicole Miller).
Carnz said Pantone is the gold sponsor and the students are designing to incorporate the 2025 Pantone Color of the Year — Mocha Mousse — into their work.
The lead producer is Rachel Willingham, an external producer. She is working with four student clubs that run various aspects such as footage and audio, production team running backstage, a styling group for hair, makeup and accessories, and the marketing group that’s handling all the advertising and ticket sales.
“This show is different than a Parsons and FIT that has a design focus,” said Carnz. “The bulk of the student experience is the opportunity to produce a professional quality fashion show and understand the roles that go into that and the full scale of the process, as well as being able to partner with professionals in the industry to gain résumé-building experience. One of the components we put into place is bringing alumni back as mentors for the students on the show,” said Carnz. “What they [the students] are doing in this setting is what they’ll do in the real world when they graduate. It’s usable experience for when they’re out in the industry.”
In addition to Miller and Pantone, the LIM College Fashion Show has WWD as the official media partner.
“We are thrilled to partner with LIM College, a premier institution for the business of fashion, in its commitment to provide immersive educational opportunities for the next generation,” said Amanda Smith, chief executive officer of Fairchild Media. “As the leading voice in fashion across all disciplines, supporting future leaders is integral to WWD’s mission.”
The four honorary chairs who are actively involved are Maryanne Grisz, president and CEO of Fashion Group International; Natasha Verma; Memsor Kamarake, celebrity stylist, and Elliot Carlyle, founder, CurrentLY Global.
The Verma Foundation, which will be the charity partner for the LIM Fashion Show, provides wig caps free of charge to girls and women affected by hair loss due to chemotherapy. Through the support of the LIM College Fashion Education Foundation, two scholarships will be awarded to students.
Nine LIM alumni, all of whom are in fashion industry leadership positions, serve as mentors to the students in addition to Miller. They include Joshua Danforth ’05, senior director, visual merchandising capabilities for Walmart; Lulu Palmer ’19, founder of creative agency Haus Eleven; Kevin Schmidt ’16 and MPS ’21, founder, K&L Events; Aubriana Sweet ’17, founder and head creative for A Sweet Production; Paige Geist ’19, marketing manager, Supima; Ryan Lombard ’11, public relations director, Hutch; Dominque A. Upshaw ’20, fashion stylist; Alexis Berteau ’24, retail sales, J.Crew, and Danielle Russo ’22, stylist and assistant director of alumni affairs at LIM College.
