Art Blended with Heart

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Miele cites water as an inspiration for his gowns. In the mouths of most designers, it’s a cliché strutted out with any old blue dress. Miele’s collection gives there reference meaning, finally. Many of his gowns are built on a base of printed silk beneath multiple layers of chiffon, giving the appearance of a watery overlay.

 

Sometimes Miele traces, crayon-like, the indistinct flowers from one layer onto another. Other times, he insists they remain like mirages from the bottom of a pool. “This one is meant to be out of focus,” Miele says, gesturing to a strangely lovely gown that looked the way a rainbow might if it could be drowned.

 

Home and life

 

Miele spends most of his time in his new penthouse apartment in New York’s trendy meatpacking district. The Brazilian island of Florianopolis also provides a place where he creates and lives with his 11 German shepherds.

 

He has incorporated handicrafts of Brazilian natives into his clothes, both for the cultural reference and as a way to support the cooperatives he organizes and patronizes. This season’s jeans, for instance, were embroidered with crafty crocheted flowers normally used in tablecloths in Brazil.

 

“I feel fashion has to be integrated into life,” he says.

 

Design beyond fashion

 

Miele has a new, high-concept store in New York where light radiates from the floor, mannequins are suspended from the ceiling, and digital artworks are projected onto the rear wall. He and the design firm Asymptote collaborated on the space. It has already won two awards.

 

Still, he has other things in mind than selling dresses. “Whenever design something of function, it makes me feel like I did a good job,” he says. “I wish I could design a chair.”

Vocabulary Focus

strut (v) [strQt] to display something in order to show it off

mirage (n) [5mirB:V] an image of something that seems to be far away but does not really exist

patronize (v) [5pAtrEnaiz] to be a regular customer of a shop, restaurant or other place of business

project (v) [5prCdVekt] to cause a film, image or light to appear on a screen or other surface

 

Specialized Terms

chiffon (n) 雪纺绸；薄纱 a very thin, almost transparent cloth of silk or nylon

overlay (n) 覆盖物 a layer of something used to cover something else

embroider (v) 刺绣 to decorate cloth or clothing with patterns or pictures consisting of stitches that are sewn directly onto the material

crochet (v) 钩织 to make clothes and other items using thread and a special needle with a hook at one end

high-concept (adj) 高能概念的；利用流行、尖端、刺激等元素吸引广大观众的 trying to appeal to a large audience by using popular, glamorous features

艺术与心灵的结合

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米勒提到，水是他设计礼服的灵感来源。在多数设计师的口中，这个老套说法多用来炫耀任何一件老式的蓝色洋装，但米勒的设计却终于将这个说法赋予意义。他的许多礼服设计基本上是用印花丝质布衬在多层雪纺绸下，以形成水波状的表层外观。

米勒有时候用像蜡笔画的效果，将模糊的花朵从一层描摹到另一层，有时候他又坚持花朵要像在池底的海市蜃楼。他指着一件奇特可爱、看起来像彩虹浸在水里的礼服说：“这件就是要看起来朦胧失焦。”

 

家庭与生活

米勒把大部分的时间花在他新买的顶楼住宅中，地点在纽约时髦的肉品市场区。巴西的佛罗安那波里岛也是他创作与生活的地方，他与11条德国牧羊犬一起住在那里。

他的服装结合了巴西当地人的手工艺，既是为了文化关联性，也是对他所组织和光顾的合作工厂表示支持。例如，本季的牛仔裤就绣上精巧钩织的花朵，这通常是用在巴西桌布上的设计。

“我觉得时尚应该融入生活。”他说。

 

服装以外的设计

米勒在纽约有一间新开的流行概念店面，灯光从地上放射出来，天花板吊挂着人体模型，数字化艺术图像则映照在后壁上。店面空间是他和设计公司“渐近线”合作打造的，已经赢得两项大奖。

但他除了卖衣服外还有其他想法。“只要（我）设计了能够使用的东西，都会让我觉得自己做得很棒，”他说：“但愿我能设计一张椅子。”