The Nolan Miller Effect
This piece was originally written in March 2021.
Linda Evans, Diahann Carol and Joan Collins in character in 1981, ph. Mary Evans
He is rarely mentioned, yet Dynasty’s behind-the-scenes costume designer massively influenced 80s fashion by bringing power-dressed glamour to the masses.
The internet and streaming killed monoculture, making it almost impossible to imagine that at one point a single TV show could have had such an impact on a decade’s style. Essentially synonymous with 80s power dressing and ostentatious glamour, Dynasty (the evening soap-opera about the 1% which ran from 1981 to 1989) became a fashion phenomenon thanks to its costume designer, Nolan Miller. The show’s producer, Aaron Spelling, tasked Miller with costuming the world of the “rich, rich, rich” telling him that he never wanted to see them wear the same thing twice, according to Womenswear Daily in 2012.
Dynasty was the epitome of the conspicuous consumption of the Reagan era, both in its fashions onscreen (Miller had a ridiculously decadent budget of $35,000 per weekly episode – about $100,000 today) and its real-life merchandise. The show’s heroines wore furs (real, of course), jewels (Harry Winston), sequined gowns, hats, veils, gold lamé, silk blouses, jewel tones, pastels, batwing sleeves and strong silhouettes influenced by 1940s Hollywood sirens. Producers of the show capitalised on the audience’s desire to buy into the filthy-rich fantasy, with the 1984 launch of the Dynasty Collection in New York’s Bloomingdales attracting 20,000 shoppers.
At Dynasty’s peak of popularity in 1984-85, 21.2 million US homes tuned in per episode and it garnered an international audience. Women – particularly those over the age of 35 – imitated the styles of Alexis Carrington (played by Joan Collins), Krystle Carrington (Linda Evans) and Dominique Deveraux (Diahann Carol), empowered by the female leads which represented beauty beyond youth. Krystle’s wardrobe helped popularise shoulder pads, the inverted-triangle silhouette and the colour white, whilst Alexis’ tailored suits influenced the decade’s power suit and her penchant for hats caused Neiman Marcus and Saks to “increase their hat offerings by over 200%”, according to Linda Welters and Patricia Cunningham’s Twentieth-century American Fashion. In general, the show pushed women’s fashion to a more over-the-top, feminine glamour – prior to the ‘80s women’s fashions were “leaning toward androgyny.” Dressing up and wearing your wealth was firmly on the agenda again after the counter-cultural late ‘60s and ‘70s.
Described by Interview magazine at the time as the “TV couturier”, Miller helped to forge the relationship between TV and fashion that is now standard. Both inspired by and contributing to the money-money-money spirit of the ‘80s, the show influenced high street fashion in the UK, spawning knock-offs everywhere from M&S to C&A. Encapsulating the essence of his glitzy heroines, in 2012 NY Times reported Miller saying, “Everything matches: the suit, the hats, the gloves, the jewellery. When she walks down the hall, you may not know who she is, but you know she’s rich, and you know you better get out of the way.”
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