Nicole Miller shimmered on stage Saturday night at Philadelphia’s celebrated Academy of Music for The Verizon Philadelphia University Evening of Innovation, where she received the university’s 2013 Spirit of Design Award.
Last awarded to John Varvatos, the honor is presented to designers who have made outstanding contributions to the fashion and design industry through innovation. Previous winners include Geoffrey Beene, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein’s Francisco Costa, Mary McFadden and “Project Runway” season-one winner Jay McCarroll.
Philadelphia University president Stephen Spinelli Jr. opened the night with a video montage replete with Nicole Miller runway reels and red-carpet images of celebrities in her signature form-fitting wares. Bud Konheim, Nicole Miller’s chief executive officer, who won the university’s 2013 Leader of Innovation Medal (which was awarded at the gala later that evening), appeared in the video and spoke of his long-standing partner.
“Nicole is absolutely appropriate for this honor,” Konheim said of Miller. “I mean, look at her fabric innovation. Her latest thing is her stretch metal. It’s a body-camouflage fabric that she’s morphed into plaids and prints.
And what about silk noil? It’s the silk scrap that used to fall on the factory floor. She found a way to take those scraps and weave them into a fabric. It was an incredible innovation,” he said with reverence. “A true designer hates the status quo,” he said of Miller’s perpetual ambition to innovate. “Actually, a true designer hates what she just did,” he laughed.
Source: wwd