About Us

Designer Michelle Smith transforms classic silhouettes by merging American sportswear influences with distinctive Parisian atelier techniques. Smith's eye for impeccable detail, use of luxurious, cutting-edge fabrics and precise tailoring have made MILLY a cult favorite across the globe.

Designer Michelle Smith transforms classic silhouettes by merging American sportswear influences with distinctive Parisian atelier techniques. Smith's eye for impeccable detail, use of luxurious, cutting-edge fabrics and precise tailoring have made MILLY a cult favorite across the globe.

Convinced from a very early age that fashion design was her calling, Smith earned a scholarship to Moore College of Art and Design to study fashion illustration. She later followed her passion to New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. Smith worked at the Hermés boutique in Manhattan to help fund her tuition. Upon graduation, she wrote to the President of Hermés requesting an internship at the Paris headquarters. Her request was granted, making Michelle Smith, the first American Hermés employee sent to work in Paris with the legendary fashion house. While in Paris, Smith continued her studies at the prestigious design school ESMOD while interning at Louis Vuitton, Torrente and Christian Dior Haute Couture. Smith returned home to New York three years later, intent on establishing her own design business, and founded MILLY.

If you had one piece of advice on how to succeed in the fashion business, what would it be?

It sounds like a cliché, but you have to have such determination. I never thought for a second that it was not going to happen for me. Now I realize, looking back, “Who the hell was that girl?” Because you get burned by life and things happen, eventually things don’t go your way. Each door opens up a new door. I think it's just about having the will, determination and working. You have to believe it yourself.

If you had one piece of advice on how to succeed in the fashion business, what would it be?

It sounds like a cliché, but you have to have such determination. I never thought for a second that it was not going to happen for me. Now I realize, looking back, “Who the hell was that girl?” Because you get burned by life and things happen, eventually things don’t go your way. Each door opens up a new door. I think it's just about having the will, determination and working. You have to believe it yourself.

If you had one piece of advice on how to succeed in the fashion business, what would it be?

It sounds like a cliché, but you have to have such determination. I never thought for a second that it was not going to happen for me. Now I realize, looking back, “Who the hell was that girl?” Because you get burned by life and things happen, eventually things don’t go your way. Each door opens up a new door. I think it's just about having the will, determination and working. You have to believe it yourself.