Interview With Michael Miller: on Red Carpet Looks and the Freeing Power of Fashion

Michael Miller is one of those genuine people who deeply loves his job and who enchants you with every word, story or memories. Michael knows where he wants to go and that he has to work a lot and keep everything organized (as he always does) to get good results; he is also aware of the fact that the only way to succeed is to believe in what he does and in the freeing power of fashion too.

Celebrity stylist, lover of photography, film and catchphrases, Michael Miller during his career has styled Willem Dafoe, Helena Bonham Carter and Andrew Scott, always learning, editorial after editorial, look after look, new and useful teachings, both in the good and in the bad situations. He is also the stylist of Robert Sheehan, the protagonist of the new Netflix series “The Umbrella Academy” with whom he has now a relationship of mutual respect and trust, the key element for every successful work. If you do not meet the tastes of customers, you will never see the typical smile of  self-awareness shining on a red carpet, as Michael revealed us during our chat in London, the day after he didn’t sleep to check through FaceTime that every detail of Robert’s look for the American premiere of “Deadly Machines” was perfect.

Whether you are talking about experiences on the set, must-haves while doing a styling (spoiler: they are small and sharp) or tips for a red carpet look, Michael always knows what to say with the awareness of those who have achieved a certain number of experiences in the field, even if he never wants to stop. And with his determination, we are sure that for Michael this is only the beginning.

How and when did you understand that you wanted to become a stylist?

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I never actually wanted to be a stylist, I wanted to be a designer, it was a bit of an accident. I studied women’s wear at Central St. Martins and I never really understood what a stylist did, I wanted to be a designer and when I graduated, a couple of years after, I found myself out of a job and so I assisted a stylist and then suddenly realized “oh, this is great!” I get bored very easily, I’m quite an impatient person, not with others, but just sitting around, and I found design – being sat down on a desk to draw all day – was not for me, and styling, I was running around, plans change every 30 seconds, it’s spontaneous, it’s fun, it’s mad, and that’s kind of why I was drawn to it.

You were part of the design team for Diane von Furstenberg and Elisa Palomino. In what way do you think that your background as a designer helps or support you in your work as a stylist?  

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I think the technical side of things has really been helpful to me. I was hired at those places not necessarily for my design skill, but I didn’t understand making clothes in terms of patch cutting, I used to drape on a mannequin and then just sew on a machine to put it on a 3D design rather than on a flat drawing and that kind of thing has really come in helpful. You know, when I do red carpets, something may break last minute or something’s not hanging right, so I’ve got to hand-stitch it to make it work. And also, especially with men’s wear, tailors, especially on Savile Row, have a tendency to look down on you, because they have had a 30-year experience and they don’t think you know what you are doing, so unless you know all the right terminology and know how to alter these suits and things like that, then they will work over you and they will tell you what they think should be done and, yeah, you shouldn’t let that happen, you should be the boss and know exactly what you want.

“I was running around, plans change every 30 seconds, it’s spontaneous, it’s fun, it’s mad, and that’s kind of why I was drown to it.”

You did editorials for a lot of magazines. Was there a particular one that really let you free to express your creativity or that you’re really proud of?

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There were so many! I did one in Rome with Willem Dafoe, last summer. I shot it with one of my best friends, Michiel Meewis, who is a huge blessing in itself because he just takes the most beautiful photos, he could be taking a picture of a toilet and it’s gonna be bloody beautiful like he can’t do anything wrong…And then add this amazing actor into it…it was such a special privilege to spend a day with someone like that, to listen to them, to have them tell you all their stories, plus we didn’t shoot the normal Rome that everyone sees. There’s a Pasolini film called “Mamma Roma” and it’s all set on the outskirts of Rome, where there are random bits of old buildings falling down from the Romans’ time and we shot that Rome, rather than fountains and churches that everyone’s used to.

That was a really special day and I think it’s possibly one of the best pictures I have done so far of “being caught off” is where he’s floating horizontally on a stool, there’s a rock over a stool, he’s floating horizontally. We were like “just do some crazy yoga pose and let’s see what we get out of it” and we caught that, and it was cool, it was one of those things we got right. Whenever I shoot an image with someone, for me to be really truly happy with it, I want to be able to say “this is not a fashion image,” I want it to be an iconic image and I want it to be like an artwork that can be hung on a wall and all my image references of photographers I look back on, you know, all those images are the kind of things you can hang, they do hang on walls in art galleries and people’s homes and you get a strong emotional reaction out of them. I want it to be burned into your head. I am so privileged to work with some incredible people and to get to meet some really iconic actors and actresses, it’s a real, real pleasure to do that, and I’m just as much as a fan as anybody else is and I get to spend a day with them or those who I dress for red carpets.

“Whenever I shoot an image with someone, for me to be really truly happy with it, I want to be able to say ‘this is not a fashion image,’ I want it to be an iconic image.”

 And, related to this editorial with Willem, what was your inspiration for that job?

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The concept changes every five minutes. There was a lot of reference to Pasolini films, Willem had actually played Pasolini before, and he was amazing at it. All my references generally come from films, I am a movie geek, I have been since I was a child, for some reason I could always remember what the story was, who the actors were in it, who was the director, I had this useless pop culture knowledge until I became a stylist and then it actually became useful.

There is a German photographer called Herbert List that we, in photographic style, reference a lot, August Sander is another one we reference a lot, they shot on film. We had like six different styles of Italian men, but I think we kind of stuck more with the Pasolini look, especially the reference to “Mamma Roma:” there’s a picture of him walking in front of these ruins that is really great, we used four images on one page so that they were shot in sequence, straight after each other, so he starts small and then…it’s like those flick-books from when you were a child, they move closer and closer to you every time. So, yeah, that was the inspiration. Inspiration kind of comes from everywhere and I have a huge folder on my computer with images.

You’re the stylists of Robert Sheehan, whose latest movie is “Mortal Engines.” What was like working with him and how would you describe his style?

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So much fun. It is not work at all. We hung out this week, just before we flew off, we did the LA premiere last night, so I was up all hours just facetiming a friend of mine who was looking after him there with all the clothes and we were facetiming just to make sure everything was perfect. You know, he’s just the sort of person you can sit down for two hours with, have a nice cup of tea and just chat, and it doesn’t feel like work and he’s such a dream because a lot of men are very stuck in their ways, to try and change their style takes a long time, you can’t just put something crazy on them, some guys might freak out about a tiny bit of white stitching on a lapel, so you’ve got to drip-feed them in baby steps to sort of try and change them a bit, but, God, he was head to toe in a faith connection sequins suit last night, he looked like a human disco ball, with Rob you can do anything you want, he is an open canvas. He called me his “Guinea pig.”

“With Rob, you can do anything you want, he is an open canvas.”

And then he has a Netflix series called “The Umbrella Academy” which is Netflix’s first superhero series which is going to be released this February; I’m doing Rob for that and we can go much crazier for Netflix, I think, but then, also, I’m doing his co-star Tom Hopper. So, yeah, I’ve got two boys in that one and it’s going to be a very interesting one, because it’s the first superhero series that Netflix has done, putting a really big marketing budget behind it, so watch out for that one, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

You know it’s the right outfit just by looking at their face. If the right one goes on, it just goes “bing!” and they can’t hide it, it’s all about their face. Hopefully, you don’t put the one that you don’t want them to wear on and their face lights up, but that doesn’t usually happen.

You also worked with Helena Bonham Carter for the cover of SZ magazine, right? How was the mood on set with such a legend?

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Yes, it was such a surreal day, ’cause you just don’t expect to be hanging out with them, anybody I’ve worked with, you just don’t expect to be hanging out with them for the day. She’s a woman who knows herself so well. And just to see her, she was sat in the chair, having her hair and makeup done, she was sort of a quite calm being in her own clothes and then, the minute you put on a big gown, some beautiful jewels, stick her in front of the camera, we always ask what music they want and we were putting on Frank Sinatra’s songs one after each other. And for a three-minute window we had one song to shoot each outfit, for that three-minute window it was like she was possessed, you know, suddenly “boom!,” there’s Helena Bonham Carter and she was rolling around and just going for it, and it was quite magical to watch, because you were just like “fucking hell! This is a woman like…wow!”

What’s a celebrity that you really loved to work with and who’s, instead, someone you would love to work with?

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There is an award every year called the Olivier Awards and I worked with an actress called Janet McTeer, not too many people know her, geeks do, but I remember her because she did the voiceover for one of my favorite films called “Velvet Goldmine” that I used to watch as a teenager, about glam rock in the 70s, and I used to watch it and think “I want to be that” and the narration of it is a very important part of it. I had never worked with a celebrity on my own before and meeting her, and she opened her door and spoke, and it was the voice of the movie and I just melted, and it was heaven. I actually more often get fangirling about the photographer than I do the talent. Once I managed to shoot with a really amazing photographer called Norman Jean Roy, he shoots Vanity Fair covers, Hollywood Reporter covers, you would know his work just by looking at it, it’s so iconic.

Who would I love to work with? I’m really wired to sort of down the line and I hope it’ll happen relatively soon, I’m crossing fingers, I’ve loved the imagery of Vanity Fair for so long, so I want to be working with them down the line, in the UK, and I’m just trying to wait for the right project to come along, but also I’d love to do a Vanity Fair with someone like Cate Blanchett, it would be incredible. Cate would be heaven. Glenn Close would be amazing, I mean, her story and just her face…I haven’t done it yet, but I’d eventually like to sort of print out photographs of my work and put them on my wall, not to be arrogant, but just to be like “fuck, I did that!” and, gosh, imagine Glenn Close on my wall, that would be bloody amazing!

So, we hope to see that feature on your wall!
What was, in your opinion, a big trend this year and what will be a big one next year?

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I’m one of those people that, when somebody asks, “what’s a trend?” I just go with “I don’t know.” I really don’t know, what I think about trends is that I just don’t care, it’s “does it look good or does it not?” that’s it. I kind of think that people in fashion use trends to make it look like we do something worthwhile. We’re not Mother Teresa, we’re not saving the world, we’re not performing open-heart surgery, it’s just clothes, so trends are not me, it’s “does it look good or does it not? Does it fit? Is the person who’s wearing it happy and does that show?” I don’t care whether they think florals are in or whatever, just wear what you want, it’s your body, don’t let somebody else tell you what to do. I don’t tell people what to do, I work with them and say “would you maybe be interested in trying this?”.

“I don’t care whether they think florals are in or whatever, just wear what you want, it’s your body, don’t let somebody else tell you what to do.”

What kind of advice you would give regarding red carpet looks?

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It’s hard bloody work! You know, there’s a lot more work that goes into it than what you just see on the carpet. It is fun, but it’s a long, hard slog. I didn’t just get here in five minutes, this has been a long, quiet, slow burn. Some people get lucky, but there’s a lot of competition in fashion and there’s a lot of competition in red carpet with only a very limited pool of actors or whoever is on the red carpet to work with, so it’s hard work and you get a lot of nerves. You have a lot of days in the beginning when you think “what the hell am I doing? Why did I choose to do this?” but if you stick with it, you’ll get there in the end, if you have absolute belief that you are going to be the number one or that you’re going to get there, you’ll get there. But, you have to put in that hard work, there’s a lot of very late nights, there are a lot of times where you’re not paid and you have to be able to deal with that. All of that hard work does pay off in the end, it’s kind of one of those things when one moment, at the beginning, you can’t even afford to buy yourself food, and you’re not turning the heating on in winter because you can’t afford it, to all of a sudden “oh, I can get myself those nice trainers that I always wanted” and “oh, I can go on this nice holiday that I always wanted.” It pays off, it really does, but it is constant work. It’s constancy.

What’s your signature look?

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I mean… imagery-wise, I always reference the 40s and 50s, the golden age of Hollywood. I never used to like black and white films, it actually came through images and photographs and I fell in love with it. Sometimes I might reference the 20s and 30s as well. But, red carpet-wise, I don’t think you should have a signature, it’s not up to you, you have to be able to mind read the client and find out what they want, you have to know them really well, so if you have a signature style and you’re trying to force it on somebody else it’s not going to work, you’re not going to get that smile out of them. You really have to be able to read their mind. I kind of like to meet clients by doing editorial first with them, or at least having a coffee or lunch and just sitting down and having a really good chat, and I guess I’ve learned to become a really good judge of who somebody is, what they like.

“If you have absolute belief that you are going to be the number one or that you’re going to get there, you’ll get there.”

What’s your must-have while doing a styling?

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For me, it’s safety pins. That’s especially important on the shoots, I have a huge thing for safety pins; I don’t use clips because if they move they can come out. I know some say that safety pins make holes, but I have magical ways to fix holes. Yeah, I love them, they’re my favorite thing on Earth. The other thing is being organized. I have a wardrobe, everything has its own box’s category, it’s got sticky labels on it telling what’s there: I keep everything organized. You know, I live by notes in my firm, every single job, every single client has a list, it has what I’m calling him, who has said yes, who has said no, who has said maybe, lists of letters I sent out… Keep everything. Organization is key. If you have one job on, it’s not so tricky, but once you start getting three, four that you have to juggle simultaneously if you are not organized you will fry yourself out. “Perfect planning prevents pathetic performance,” I love a good catchphrase. My cookery teacher at school, when I was 13 years old, used to say that, and it’s stuck with me, so thank you, Miss A.

Have you ever had an epic fail on a job?

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Yeah, I have, I won’t say who it necessarily was, but yeah, it actually only happened once. It taught me that you have to be prepared for everything. My mom always used to say to me “darling, you’ve pulled too many clothes, you don’t need to do that, it’s too much work,” but if you don’t get it, then somebody’s going to want it. So, yeah, the shoot was bad, I’d been given the wrong sizes, things didn’t necessarily go to plan…but you’ve always got to find a solution, once you’re there you’ve got to get it done. At first glance it was not going well, I had to just walk into a corner, I said to my assistant “look, please, just keep things going here, I’m going to go gather my thoughts” and I just walked into a corner, got my eyes to water up a bit, and said “no, you’re not gonna cry, just breathe in, breathe out, and go.” And, you know, you’ve just got to get the shoot done, you’ve got to get this day over with, once this day is done, you’re all good. Some of the most difficult situations I’ve been in have produced some of the best images that I’ve done. I think you need pain and suffering in your life to make the other parts a bit brighter.

“Organization is key.”

And what’s your fashion superpower? The one you think you have or the one you would love to have. 

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I’m usually pretty good at guessing men’s sizes just by looking at them. Shoes, trousers, jackets…I know what you are. I think that’s just because I’ve worked with like seventy people, and I mean even with ladies I’m relatively good with sizes, not always, but yes, I can definitely tell what’s the lady’s shoe size. It’s a weird telepathic power that you have, I think most stylists probably have that, I mean, if you stare at something long enough, you’re going to know.

A fashion superpower that I wish I had … I have no clue about streetwear, sportswear, it’s not my cup of tea, but if I did know how to do that, it would be quite handy, because I would be able to get more jobs on that side. I do a little bit of gym, but I have no interest in sports, so sportswear, streetwear is like “ew!” It’s comfortable, okay, I’m in a hoody right now, I’m dressing for comfort, but I came from like a school of technical work, and when I studied fashion it was about making things in a technicality behind the patterns and everything that makes the clothes, so I kind of just appreciate anything that’s more skilled and technical than sweat pants. And then people who go and pay, you know, thousands of euros for a pair of fucking sweat pants are crazy.

What’s fashion for you? How would you define it?

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Fashion is freedom of expression, to do whatever the hell you want to and how the hell you want to do it. You know, maybe I should strike back that streetwear question about sweat pants, because nobody should be able to judge anybody else, it’s your life, do what you want to do, and that’s what I love about fashion. A lot of people say it’s fakery. I have met some of the most wonderful and genuine people that are very great friends of mine, they work in fashion and we all love clothes and we love beauty, we love imagery, we all have great and sometimes sad moments, sometimes life isn’t always great, but through our clothes we can make ourselves feel better, we can express ourselves. When I moved to London 12 years ago, it was because I’d watched a couple of movies, I had watched “Velvet Goldmine,” I’d watched one of those New York’s “Party Monster” that all my friends watched and there were these crazy club kids in amazing outfits and I thought “I just wanna be that.” I was in a tiny village, in a boarding school where I was just bullied like crazy because I stuck out like a sore thumb, wearing my Comme des Garçons outfits. I wanted to be free, and that’s what fashion has given me, it gives you the freedom to be who the fuck you want to be, and fuck anyone else who has anything to say about it.

“Sometimes life isn’t always great, but through our clothes, we can make ourselves feel better, we can express ourselves.”

Last question. What’s next for you?

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We have quite a long list. At the moment it’s working on this new Netflix series which I’ve got Rob for, hopefully, I’m also working with his co-star, Tom Hopper. I’ve got quite a few editorials…with any editorial I do I cast them as well, so I organize all that side of things, the production side of things, so, yeah, I’ve got a couple of those going.

The UK really doesn’t have a big sort of scene for red carpet events and things like that, maybe it does in music but not with actors, it’s not Hollywood. Maybe it doesn’t for a reason, maybe other people have tried and failed to do that, but I kind of want to be working on a level that the stylists in LA are working on, and in New York, that’s kind of where I want to be. I think people are starting to take me seriously in the industry, I’m definitely not a superstar stylist but I’m getting there, I’m on my way. You can’t look too far ahead, but I guess you celebrate a new goal every day.

I’ve been doing things in the last couple of months I could never have dreamed of a year ago, and dealing with some really tough bits of work, juggling multiple jobs trying not to burn out… As long as I’m alive and going in the future, that’s kind of a good start. I’d like to be on the level of the Elizabeth Saltzman of this world, the Ilaria Urbinati, that’s where I want to be,

Let’s see whether I get there.   

Photos by Johnny Carrano.

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