Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Slain student is honored on runway

The International Academy of Design and Technology student has her dress designs appear in the annual fashion show.

By STEPHANIE HAYES
Published May 21, 2005

TAMPA - The two models smiled, strode down the runway and struck a pose as a simple message appeared on the big screen monitors - "In Memory of Danielle Miller, 1982-2004"

Friday night's International Academy of Design and Technology fashion show at the Tampa Convention Center would have been a dream come true for Miller, the 22-year-old student killed in a robbery at a Subway restaurant last year.

"She had tried to enter before, but her skills weren't 100 percent there," said her instructor Marisu Olivero.

Then last summer, two of Miller's dresses were selected from more than 1,000 entries to appear in the school's prestigious annual fashion show. "Her construction and sewing skills had gotten better," Olivero said. "We knew that this time it would be something she could finish."

Miller never had the chance. On the night of Dec. 4, two men entered the Town 'N Country Subway restaurant where Miller worked and demanded money. When Miller couldn't get the cash drawer open, she was shot twice and later died.

Another employee, Dorothy Hayes, was shot in the abdomen and recovered. The Sheriff's Office said Marquis Devon Alexander, 16, of Tampa; Darrell Sebron Doby Jr., 19, of Riverview; and Phillip Austin Jr., 18, of Tampa were responsible for the incident.

Miller's death stunned the academy's staff members and students.

"I had just seen her that day and we made an appointment for Monday to go over her portfolio," Olivero said. "I always think about her last words. "I'll see you in the morning."'

Friends described Miller, who relocated from Ohio to Florida to attend the academy, as a T-shirt and jeans kind of girl who adored her dog Sparky. Her design collection, Sparky Wear, bears his name.

"She called him her baby," said 21-year-old Sara Crawford, one of Miller's roommates at Audubon Village apartments and a classmate at the academy.

Crawford said Miller was a quiet girl who loved soap operas, Wal-Mart, the pop group N'sync and rubber ducks. She had a "duckie toilet seat cover and a shower curtain," Crawford said. "It was so cute."

Her colorful tastes were reflected in the pieces that made the stage on Friday - a short, blue one-strap dress with flappy trim, and a grass-green strapless dress with orange and yellow pennant-shaped swatches. Olivero said the dresses were inspired by flags in ethnic street festivals.

Miller's mother and stepfather flew in from Ohio for Friday night's show. They declined to comment.

Crawford said Miller dedicated countless hours to perfecting her designs.

"All she did, really, was go to work, go to school, come home and do her homework," she said. "She just did (homework) right in the middle of the living room floor so we all could see what she was doing."

The academy's fashion show, now in its 20th year, featured 250 garments designed and produced by more than 70 student designers and drew an estimated crowd of nearly 3,000. Featured pieces included kimonos and funky bridal gowns. It's a yearly highlight for students, who work through phases of design, sewing and fittings.

Miller's dresses were 90 percent completed at the time of her death. Olivero said she and other staff members finished the dresses so they could appear in the show.

It was a night Miller would have been proud to experience, Crawford said.

"I know she really wanted to see herself in the show," she said.

Stephanie Hayes can be reached at 813 269-5303 or shayes@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 21, 2005, 01:03:17]