FAMILY AND FASHION I had always wanted five children and Aristide [born last June, in Los Angeles] was my fifth. I had my first three children [Olympia, Constantine and Achileas] in New York, where my husband [Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece; though the European country abolished its monarchy in 1973] and I were living after we got married. I was immersed in parenthood and was having fun but by the time I was pregnant with Achileas, I had this incredible drive to go out and do something on my own. There was a baby boom and the luxury industry was moving into children's products. I remembered my mother-in-law [Queen Anne-Marie] bringing me beautiful smock dresses and pretty English clothes, which I couldn't find in New York at the time. So I thought what fun it would be to bring it all together in one shop. That was nine years ago.
A HONG KONG CHILDHOOD The way my mother would dress us when we were small inspires me. She is South American and she loved us to look perfect; we were three little girls so you can imagine - perfectly dressed, perfect hair. In the summer there were lovely cotton dresses, gingham and Liberty prints; I love designing summer collections because it takes me back. I was born in London in 1968, my sister Pia was born two years earlier in New York. My father [billionaire entrepreneur Robert Warren Miller] had already co-founded the business that was to become Duty Free Shoppers [DFS] and we moved back to Hong Kong 18 months after my birth. My sister Alexandra was born there in 1972.
People can't imagine what it was like when they see the metropolis today. It was so different then: there was a cricket ground in Central [now Chater Square], where we had our school sports days. I remember going out on junks and waking up to the sight of the beautiful old fishing boats with their big fan sails. This was just everyday life, like taking a ferry to the airport before they built the tunnel. It wasn't so packed with people then, everything happened at a slower pace. I go back to Hong Kong every year, because my parents still live there and my sisters and I are on the board of DFS. My father is still very hands-on and doesn't want to retire.
DADDY'S GIRL I am very independent, as is my third son, Odysseas, who shares my birthday and Chinese zodiac sign. We are Monkeys. I inherited my creative side from my mother; I love to paint and draw and do a lot of illustration for books. The other elements [to her makeup] come from my father; growing up I could see my father was devoted to business but also was very much a family man who would come home and have lunch with us three days a week. He encouraged me to go out and learn how to put a business plan together. It may have been tough but that is what I needed to prove to myself I could do it.
THE MILLERS' TALE I was sent to Switzerland, to [boarding school] Le Rosey in Gstaad, when I was nine. It was awful; I hated it. Then my parents bought a house in Paris, which they refurbished, and we moved there when I was 13 and I learnt to speak fluent French. When Pia left school to go to Barnard [College] at Columbia University I followed her and did my last year of boarding school at the Masters School, in New York. When I was 16, I was introduced to [pop artist] Andy Warhol and went to work at the Factory [his studio] as an assistant making tea, answering calls. This was followed by a scholarship to the New York Academy of Art, which was full of unbelievably talented people - but I didn't finish the year. I then went to New York University to do art history - I dropped out of that as well. I was curious and went and did things that would satisfy me and then I would move on.
FLASH POINT In 1992, some Greek friends were having a party in New Orleans, which a friend dragged me along to, and there I met my husband. Six months after getting engaged in Switzerland we were married in London, in 1995. I am sure you have read all about it. Someone gave me one key piece of advice: '[Your wedding] goes by in such a flash, get your brain to do a snapshot memory.' So I really focused on every single thing.