Nick Smith (milliner)

Biography

Smith is best known as a hat designer or milliner. He is also a designer, socialite, author, recording artist, actor, venture capitalist and philanthropist.
Smith studied fashion design and technology at the London Institute London College of Fashion and specialized in accessories and millinery. His millinery company is based out of London, England; his central offices are based on Fifth Avenue, New York City and Liverpool, England.

Millinery

Smith presented his début collection at the Cafe de Paris during the 2001 London Fashion Week.
Smith's hats have been stocked at stores around the globe from New York's Bergdorf Goodman to London's Harrods, where store owner Mohamed Al Fayed hosted an exclusive soiree to welcome the designer in 2001.  He went on to showcase his hats on collaborative catwalks with Scottish design brand Mac Millan during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (New York), London Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week for nine seasons.
In 2005 Smith presented an environmentally friendly clothing line at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Los Angeles using modal and other organic environmentally friendly fabrics.
In 2006 Smith won the Societas Style Award for designer of the year which recognized his visionary talent of environmental ethical clothing.
2008 fashionspace.com reported that Vogue announced Smith's return to London Fashion Week with Murder by Millinery, a collection which features vintage Jimmy Choo shoes worked into bonnets, to raise money for charity and become a touring exhibition after the end of LFW. Smith told Vogue that "the collection mixes both couture and art".  Later this year Smith won the prestigious World Style Award for Accessory Designer of the Year.
2010 Smith launched the “Wonderland” collection in Dallas Texas.  Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Smith took the collection on a charitable “Tea Party Tour” of North America to promote the Nick Smith Foundation.

Music

In 2004, Smith tried his hand at music with a début performance with “Electric Rose” on the catwalk during the 2004  Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York Fashion Week.

Other ventures

2007 Smith tried his hand at yet another venture, launching the world’s first organic, dairy free, gourmet designer chocolate: "couture du chocolat" in Selfridges.
2007 Smith was a Judge of Miss Deaf UK along with Linzi Stoppard, Liz Fuller and  Bobby Davro; which was filmed by the BBC as a fly-on-the-wall three-part one-hour documentary series.
2008 Smith launched the Nick Smith Foundation, an American 501(c)(3) non profit charitable organization, striving to assist children and families with chronic diseases through eating disorders.