Savannah Miller interview: ‘When you get to your 40s, you’ve found your groove’

First things first: as someone who struggles with the pronunciation of Cefinn, Aligne, Staud and Ojai, I’m keen to check whether Savannah Miller’s new fashion brand is pronounced “Vivere” as in “Vivienne”, or “Vee-vere”, with a long “e”.  “Vivere is fine,” Miller smiles. “We’re not going to start making the British public speak in Italian accents, because that would just be tragic.”

Vivere is a new venture for Miller, combining her wealth of experience designing capsule collections for Next and Debenhams with her talent for creating modern wardrobe staples – she launched contemporary label Twenty8Twelve with her sister, actress Sienna, back in 2007 to critical acclaim. While Sienna’s career now precludes them from being able to work together, they remain as close as ever: Savannah was Sienna’s date to the 2018 Met Ball, and last year she penned an essay for Vogue about her younger sister’s “inherently golden” sense of style.  

Since the sisters severed ties with Twenty8Twelve a decade ago, Savannah has focused on her bespoke bridalwear business, which is still thriving despite the challenges presented by the pandemic. Carrie Johnson wore one of her dresses to marry Boris Johnson last July. “I didn’t know about it, because she rented it [through a third party website]. But she wrote to thank me afterwards, and said she’d felt like a million dollars. That was nice.”

At the beginning of lockdown, Miller’s bridalwear business fell off a cliff. “I was sat there thinking, ‘I’ve got people to pay, and I’m a single mum to three children. How am I going to do this, in a pandemic, when I can’t even go out and hustle?’” 

The experience changed her mindset. “Vivere is a departure for me, because it’s a lot more grown-up. It’s indicative of my life now, and a result of the experiences I’ve had, which have made me need to be really serious and work really hard. I don’t have time for the frivolity of a cheesecloth dress. Maybe sometimes on holiday, but the rest of the time, I have to be kicking ass. I’ve got three kids to feed.”

The Italian name was chosen because “vivere” means “live, be alive, endure”, three tenets which are central to the brand’s ethos, which is to deliver useful, timeless, affordable classics that will last. Priced between £25 and £275, it’s pitched firmly in the mid-market – a challenging, busy space, but also a sweet spot for women who increasingly find themselves unable to afford designer brands. Or even other so-called mid-market ones, whose prices also seem to be rising exponentially. “One of them – I won’t say who – was charging £700 for a tuxedo suit,” she says incredulously. “Who can afford that kind of money? Not me.”

Crowded as the mid-market is, Miller still couldn’t find the sort of clothes that she was looking for, giving her the idea to launch Vivere. “There was no tailoring that wasn’t either extortionate or badly made. Every year I have to go to [bridal] trade fairs in London, Barcelona, Milan and New York, and it’s hardcore – big, industrial units. I’m on my feet all day selling, and realised it was much more effective to have a semi-uniform, so that I didn’t have to think about looking a certain way. I’m representing my brand. I want to step up feeling put-together. The clothes need to feel empowering, but not distracting or loud. They need to be functional, comfortable and also give a message of seriousness, but with a little bit of a fashion edge.”

She’s especially proud of the tailoring, which is manufactured in Turkey by a family-run business, “who really take pride in what they do. And it’s properly tailored, not pretending,” she emphasises. “Everything is fused, and finished by hand. For the price, it’s extraordinary.” It’s also comfortable. “I put elastic in the back of the trouser waistbands because it allows pasta to happen at lunch,” she smiles. “I don’t want to be strangled by my clothing. I’m nearly 45 and need a bit of ease around the perimenopausal midsection.”

If Vivere’s main aim is to present wardrobe solutions for busy working women, it also acknowledges that their working uniform may have changed. “Tailoring was my starting point, because I was trying to solve a problem of my own. But there are also softer pieces. People are dressing down more. We’ve all realised that comfort is key. But if I’m too comfortable, it doesn’t work. If I’m in my tracksuit, I just want to get into bed. So it’s a balance.”

As a mother, Miller has always found it easier to work to some extent from home, but post-pandemic, the ratio has increased to “probably 50/50. I’m definitely juggling. I have a designated room in my house which is full of other stuff, but it’s still where I come to work. When I’m sitting at my kitchen table, I can hear the washing machine, and get tempted to put on a load. You have to step away, otherwise your day becomes really bitty.”

How does she get it all done? “I really don’t know,” she whispers. “My kids [Moses, 17, Lyra, 14, and Bali, 10, whom she shares with her ex partner, Nick Skinner] are older now, and much more independent. I can ask them to walk the dog or unpack the shopping, and they do. It’s less complicated than it was, plus I’ve moved closer to their schools so that my school run is 15 minutes.”

They live in Gloucestershire [she’s at home when we speak via Zoom], having recently moved house because she got married in December, to James Whewell, heir to the 800-acre Wyresdale Park Estate in Lancashire, from where he currently runs a wedding events company. They met through his sister, who is one of Miller’s friends. 

“We both went through our divorces at the same time, and this is our second marriage,” she beams. “We fell in love during the pandemic, which was really extraordinary, because it was an incubator. There was nobody else in our world except for us. It fast-tracked a really strong family bond. He’s never had kids, so my kids became very special to him. Getting married again can be concerning, but they just love him so. He’s wonderfully creative, and hysterically funny.”

Humour is essential when one of you is going through the menopause. “This is a whole new thing!” she exclaims. “I asked my mum whether she’d had any symptoms. She said, ‘No – I just went through the menopause at 53’. No night sweats? No brain fog? And she said, ‘Oh yes, but that’s just a part of it.’ Sorry, but that’s a really big deal for me, as someone who doesn’t sweat in their life ever. It’s a nightmare!”

While our mothers lived in an era when menopause tended to be swept under the carpet, Miller agrees that it’s important for women to ask for support if they feel the need. “The magic gel…” she swoons, referring to a type of HRT treatment. “Oh, the magic gel.” She says she’s suffered from brain fog “for a very long time”, a symptom made more concerning by the fact that her father, former art dealer Edwin Miller, has Alzheimer’s, as revealed by Savannah via Instagram in June. 

“It’s a very real thing to me. I’m s---ting myself, but he doesn’t have the type that’s inheritable, thank god. But that brain fog is so frustrating. I’ll be at a meeting, and bleurgh – it [her thought process] just drops out. I can’t function like that. And I can’t stand it when being hormonal interrupts me from functioning. I like getting things done. It makes me feel alive.”

She describes her own style as “becoming much more uniform-y. I really like men’s clothes. I’m quite tall, so I never wear heels. So it’s either trainers or a great pair of boots, and Birkenstocks in summertime.” She raises a leg to the camera, revealing taupe Birkenstock Boston clogs. 

“I don’t think there’s such a focus on trends now. It’s more a slightly slower, simplistic way of dressing. When you get to your 40s, you’ve found your groove. You know what works for your body shape. My hope is that women are starting to dress more for themselves. If my husband says, ‘Oh, I don’t like that’, I really don’t care!”

What she does care about is quality, telling me excitedly that Vivere uses one of the same wool suppliers as Phoebe Philo, whose much-hyped solo collection launches next month. “Phoebe is the pinnacle of all good things. I’ll tell you a funny story. I was in a restaurant with my sister [Sienna] in Notting Hill,” she says. “In walked Phoebe. I have honestly never been so starstruck in my life – and I’ve met some really famous people. She sat down, and neither of us could stop staring.” She pauses. “So she actually got up and moved tables.”

For those who can afford it, there is Phoebe Philo. But for those who can’t, Vivere is in a similar vein: understated classics, built to last and bring joy for much more than a season.

Vivere’s debut collection is available to pre-order now (viverelondon.com) and will be available at selected John Lewis stores as well as johnlewis.com.