dress/code with Morgan Miller
"Beyond all the clothing and the fashion and the statements, we’re all just humans playing dress up.”
Morgan Miller is a style icon. She’s also an author, a midwife, and the founder of Soft Corner Midwifery in Bath, Maine. When I call her up in my mind’s eye she’s all long dark locks and dreamy skin, she’s tall and she’s elegant and she’s wearing overalls. That image began forming years ago when we first met through a mutual friend, but it wasn’t until being reacquainted at a clothing swap last summer that I realized just how much I loved her style. After the most recent swap I ran back into Soft Corner on a whim and asked Morgan if I could feature her for a style profile. She said “that’s all I’ve ever wanted” — and the rest is history. In one of the most honest, introspective features I’ve done so far, Morgan admits that she’s never once thought about her style as much as in this conversation, which is the exact quality that makes her an icon.
Interview & photography by Georgia Dixon | Georgetown, Maine April 28, 2026
Can you talk about what you’re wearing and why it’s a Morgan-coded look?
I would say I love anything that’s not appropriately sized for my body, whether it’s cropped and tiny, or XXL. So an oversized men’s shirt has definitely been a default for most of my life. As a person who grew tall quickly when I was young, clothes didn’t fit right. Like pants were too short. Right now I’m wearing my kick flare pants, which is also part of that comfort in wearing things that aren’t theoretically proportioned to my body. I have some comfort in picking clothes like that, that play with proportions.
What about colors? (re the bright yellow pants)
Yeah. I tend to be a person who’s found their palette or whatever. If you look at my closet, it’s predominantly whites, blacks, grays, blues, and that’s what I call my neutral. And then I like to do a power color pop or pattern pop mixed in. It’s usually with some shoe play.
Tell us about the shoe play because we’re going to see it all in the photo.
I mean, my cow mules are quite a staple of my wardrobe these days. Generally I like a good power accessory pop, using a statement shoe or statement bag or statement hair accessory. Wearing any of those with a neutralized outfit, I think it’s fun. I feel most comfortable in that combo.
“I predominantly wear regular-degular men’s clothing and then throw in some high femme features next to it — like a gigantic scrunchie or a big jewel or a teeny tiny purse.”
There’s a very defined silhouette that you’re wearing with oversized to fitted back to oversized. Is that a structure that you go for a lot?
I would say it’s pretty predominant. I think it’s the complex of being a person who was really awkward in their body growing up. I grew up in San Diego on the beach, it was very temperate weather so I would wear shorts and flip-flops year round. That was just normal. And I would often wear a big baggy sweatshirt as well. And somebody once described me, when I was wearing a white sweatshirt, as a marshmallow with toothpicks. I was 12 at the time, and I remember feeling so self-conscious. Now I’m leaning into it, but there are those things that are burned in you, those trauma moments of finding your fashion identity, you know?
My style now hasn’t actually changed much, but it’s so funny to look back and be like, wow, I hadn’t figured it out fully yet.
Your style in general, how would you describe it?
I love crossing the gender binary with clothing. I predominantly wear regular-degular men’s clothing and then throw in some high femme features next to it. It would be an incredibly rare occurrence to see me in a predominantly femme coded ensemble. It’s very rare, across my entire life. But I like those high femme pieces to throw in the mix, like a gigantic scrunchie or a big jewel or a teeny tiny purse.
Do you wear this style at work too?
Yeah. All of it. I am my own boss and I did that intentionally so I could wear what I wanted to work. I knew I was going to end up working in healthcare in some way, and once I decided I was going to be a midwife I remember thinking, what do I actually want that to look like? What do I want my office to look like? What do I want my uniform to look like?
And so I just created it so I could wear my stupid outfits. I don’t really change my clothing between work and outside work. It’s all kind of blended in.
Do you have any cohorts who care about style in the way that you do?
Yes. My best friends are my style icons. None of them work in fashion or anything. Most of them are social workers and mental health therapists and they are spread out across the US. But the individuality that they each choose is their fashion identity.
Everyone I’ve met at Soft Corner has a very solid sense of style.
It’s been fun to see who’s been drawn to work at Soft Corner with me, everybody’s got great outfits. I created Soft Corner to be that way. The way the space is designed matters to public health and people’s clinical outcomes. People do better where they feel better. People have better labors in spaces that feel comfortable and safe. They tolerate pain differently. There’s all this science behind it. And I think that’s also true of being a provider in that space.
It’s important when a healthcare provider feels like a person sitting across from you. Wearing a white coat or wearing a stethoscope across their shoulders is a medical hierarchy coded thing. It puts this false narrative that somebody knows more than you. It’s these subtle scripts that strip a person of their agency.
There’s a lot of coding that happens in clothing around politics and ideas about society. The people that work for me also believe in these things and really lean into having their clothing not only be a self-expression, but also an expression of safety.
“Still to this day, that is my safety outfit. A white shirt and blue jeans forever.”
What would you say are some bedroom chair pieces that you can’t live without? Things that you find yourself returning to again and again.
Denim is my go-to. The amount of men’s denim shirts I’ve owned in my lifetime is embarrassing. I look back at childhood photos of me wearing denim shirts at 7 years old and it’s like, yeah, it still looks good. And I think it’s probably from my dad, the denim thing. My dad is a phenomenal, creative, artistic man. He’s got great fashion, great glasses, great beard, but his entire life, at least my entire life, the man has worn the same outfit every single day.
And what was the outfit?
His career was as a librarian, so he wore a suit and tie to work every day, but outside of work, he wore a white or black t-shirt and this one particular pair of Levi’s. He had one of those crazy closets where you would open it up and it’d be like white shirt, white shirt, white shirt — blue jeans, blue jeans, blue jeans. Still to this day, that is my safety outfit. A white shirt and blue jeans forever.
Do you like vintage denim or do you have a designer you like to wear?
I’m definitely a vintage denim person. I want that old, thick, heavyweight denim. I’m always after it.
Do you have a way that you source it or is it just happenstance in life when you come across it.
I think happenstance, I’m not sure if I’ve saturated my allotment in vintage finds, but when I was in my late twenties and I was funding my way through midwifery school, I had a vintage store. It was in the heyday of Etsy before Etsy blew up, so it was actually a really successful model. I would drive for day-long trips to hunt down stuff; I would find that one weird farmhouse warehouse where there’s just garbage bags of denim and I’d be like, I’ll take the truck load! My life doesn’t support as much of that hunting in the way it used to, but I’m addicted to it. I could just be a vintage thrifter hunter for the rest of my life. Give me one of those filthy Goodwill bins. I’m here for it.
You talked a lot about having this certain uniform, like you love denim, you love men’s shirts. Is there anything unexpected in your wardrobe?
I love a really aggressive puff sleeve, like a princess sleeve. I love me some organza. I love pairing those things with my ripped up paint jeans, you know? I feel like I have two different people’s wardrobes and they only work for me because I mix them together.
We’ve known each other through friends for a few years now, but we got reacquainted when I came to a clothing swap at your space in Bath. There was such a great energy of all these women coming together, tossing and trying on clothes, and it felt very intimate and like maybe the start of a coven. What made you start this gathering?
Since moving to mid coast Maine and having lived in pretty urban environments before, I got tired of being disappointed that things didn’t already exist and had this compulsion to just make the thing. So now I’m a host a lot of the times, but only out of necessity. [laughs]
No, but really I love it. I’ve felt how functional clothing swaps are in the past. It saves you so much money. It’s so fun. And it’s just an excuse to hang out with people and have a glass of wine. And I love anytime some of those social barriers are taken away. Like the fact that everybody’s getting naked in a room together and trying these things on. Everybody is complimenting each other and having so much fun. It feels like you’re like a 7-year-old playing dress up. It’s so nice.
“Maybe it’s the painter in me, but I like remembering that beyond all the clothing and the fashion and the statements, we’re all just humans with bodies that are playing dress up.”
I love going to the Y to work out, and one of my favorite reasons of going is the locker room. There’s such age diversity and body diversity, but there’s such neutrality in it. It’s such an invigorating space to be with all these people who are just there to take care of themselves and be kind to each other in a positive atmosphere. There are all these beautiful conversations happening in the locker room without that social barrier of clothing around. There’s nothing but connection. And I think it’s so nice.
There’s something about the clothing swap that feels similar to that. When there’s so much social status wrapped up in clothing, that stuff all gets stripped away and it’s back to just dress up and play.
I wanted you to talk a bit about ending up in Maine. You grew up and started your career on the West Coast, did you come east exclusively because you met your partner?
Most definitely. We met in Oregon, in Bend. I had been finishing my midwifery residency out there and he had just left Portland, Maine to drive across the country. He eventually landed in Bend and we met there…and then he brought me back here. I feel like you meet a Mainer, you end up in Maine. That’s what happens.
But I grew up in Southern California, which, if you’ve looked at a map, Maine is basically like Mars. I don’t think Maine really existed in my mind for most of my life. But upon knowing my partner, it quickly became this romanticized space. He took me for a grand tour in mid fall and I fell in love with it.
Maine has been so kind to me since moving here, especially for a Southern Californian who is ill-equipped for the resiliency that Maine requires. I feel like I’ve actually done pretty well, you know, I can hang with winter now. But when I first moved here I had to learn about things like wool. It just wasn’t in my life before. California is not about wool, California is about cotton. So now I know about wool and babaà sweaters.
Do you think there’s anything about living on the West Coast that influences how you dress today? Anything that’s stuck with you.
I feel like my best outfits are in the summer because I’m more practiced in dressing for that season. I struggle dressing in the winter. And my partner, Joshua, when fall rolls around, I’m like, that guy knows how to layer! He looks sharp. And for me, the summer is where I really shine, you know, it’s my white t-shirt, blue jeans season. So that’s probably a West Coast holdover.
Growing up on a beach town, comfort is definitely a thing. I don’t wear uncomfortable clothing. It’s not really for me and I think that’s the beach thing.
“I feel like you meet a Mainer, you end up in Maine. That’s what happens.”
My love for mixing and matching is also probably a beach thing, because I grew up where everybody wore short shorts year round, but then you’d wear a giant sweater with your shorts. And then I love woven textiles, which I think is from being in the Southwest. I have this insane shawl collection. You know the shawls that are like blankets — I have way more than a person needs to own, but I can’t give them up.
Do you think there’s an accessory or shoe or bag that you rely on to feel put together — like a safety blanket piece that you can just add to anything?
I go through phases. Right now it’s definitely a hoop earring or a large weighted earring, but then I’ll go through years where I don’t wear earrings at all. I’m really extremist about it. But currently if I leave the house and forgot to put my rings on and my earrings, it’s like, Oh fuck, I’m not going to make it today! Those feel like my biggest safety blanket.
Can you tell us about your rings?
So this one [cigar band] is my mother’s wedding band. It has my parents initials in it; they’re divorced, but I got the ring. And then this set is one that a family friend made for my mother back in the day. And I recently just visited her and helped her clean out her closet — which is one of my favorite tasks to do — and we were going through her jewelry and realized that these rings don’t fit her anymore with her arthritis. And I’m like, do you know what’s funny is they do fit me. And she was willing to send them my way.
Every so often I help my grandmother clean out one of her closets and it’s so much fun. I love finding all the treasures of her wardrobe.
My grandmother was quite a fashionista. When I was going through my mom’s closet I also found that she had saved my grandmother’s Fiesta outfit. So all my family lives in Texas and there’s this very San Antonian holiday called Fiesta that happens every year where you celebrate the Alamo. My grandmother’s Fiesta outfit was this gorgeous Mexican top and skirt, but it’s all black.
I love the idea of picturing my grandmother going to Fiesta — which is this very rainbow, colorful, over-the-top accessorized event in Texas where there’s confetti everywhere, like you’re getting a cup of coffee and there will be a confetti explosion — and then the fact that she would go around with her Spanish style fringe ensemble but in solid black next to all the colors. It’s very chic and it fit me. And I’m so excited she let me take it.
What’s the most likely way you’re adding a new piece to your wardrobe? You said you used to do a lot of vintage hunting; nowadays, do you acquire stuff more slowly?
We live in a small house so it’s really self-selecting of what will fit. Previously I had a vintage store where I literally owned a commercial space that was full of clothing, and now I’m limiting myself to only what fits in the closet here. So if I’m getting something new, I’m probably getting rid of something else. It feels like I’m slowly getting closer to that capsule collection. But in the human experience, there are many mornings where I wake up and I’m like, burn it all, let’s start over!
Where would you likely find a piece that would make you upgrade?
It’s usually thrifting still. I still like shopping in person, even though that’s kind of a dying form of shopping. I love a curated boutique with a mix of vintage. That’s always fun. And then I love the dirty thrift bins. It’s like gambling.
What do you think has evolved most about your style over time?
Getting more fearless. I was much more conservative with the statement of my clothing when I was younger. I thought I had to fall within existing trends in a different way. And I think as I’ve aged, I’ve gotten better at knowing that I look better when I’m comfortable and self-expressed. I have a little bit less self-consciousness. It’s still definitely there every day. But I think the era I’m in is constantly amping up the fuck-it attitude to just do it anyways. Even if I feel a little self-conscious or weirdly shamed about things. It’s just weird societal tropes that are imprinted on me that I’m trying to undo and unlearn.
Do you have any thoughts on how to move past that stuff?
I have two mantras of advice that were given to me when I was younger that still ring very true. They’re both from my parents’ queer community friend group who very much imprinted finding my confidence. I remember my early teens being a really awkward timeframe for myself. I was really quiet and really uncomfortable in my body, and I was struggling with even being able to connect with people.
One of my mom’s best friends convinced my mother to sign me up for Barbizon Modeling School, which was a very Southern California 90s experience. Even though it sounds like it would be really fucked up, it was actually really phenomenal for boosting my confidence. I just remember Rupert, my parents’ friend, imprinted on me the “fake it till you make it” concept. He sat me down and gave me this great lecture, he was just like “Fucking fake it! You’ll see, it’ll work.” And it got me through. And it’s still one of my life mantras that’s regularly utilized. It’s a cliché for a reason.
The other mantra is a very similar piece of advice, from another good friend of my mother’s, Mary. I was really struggling at one point, just really depressed and sad and feeling really self-conscious going through a breakup and having a hard time being out in the world. And she sent me this card and all it said inside was, “Tits up. – Mary”
And that was it. And those are now my two mantras anytime I have to do anything that’s public facing. I do a lot of public speaking now, where I do feel like my fashion and how I present myself is a piece of it. I’ll be picking my outfit for that day, and still, I’m like, “Fake it till you fucking make it, Morgan. Tits up. Get going!”
And it really works for me. So that would be my advice.
It’s like a splash of cold water in the face, like let’s go, get over yourself.
A little bit of it’s not great. It’s a little bit of that “Buck up” attitude. But for certain personality types, it works really well. And it did for me to get me out of my head.
“If I’m speaking to hospital administrations about legislature, I tend to make certain that I have my freak flag flying with fashion.”
What are some of the speaking engagements that you’re doing?
I do a bit of advocacy in public health, so I speak on that and I also work for a couple different organizations around improving clinical care outcomes.
But then also I did a book project with one of my best friends who is a sex therapist — she happens to fall into that style icon category — we co-authored The Cycle Book which is about hormones and hormonal literacy. And in the last year we’ve been traveling and teaching clinicians and hosting big events to teach people how to understand their bodies and hormones. Basically all the stuff you should have been told growing up, but because of #misogyny we don’t learn any of these things about our bodies.
That’s definitely a new role for me where my mantras have kicked in a lot for those speaking engagements. And it’s been so fun to do them alongside a best friend who, at least from my perspective, is really great at pushing the boundaries of fashion and being bold with it.
Do you style yourself in any particular way for a speaking engagement? Does fashion play into it at all?
I think it’s the same thing I would wear on a regular day, just a bit more amped up. Particularly when I’m speaking in more, dare I say, sterile clinical spaces. Like if I’m speaking to hospital administrations about legislature, I tend to make certain that I have my freak flag flying with fashion. That usually boosts my confidence for whatever reason. I like breaking that box that says you can only exist in a professional way by wearing a beige blazer. I really like to show up with my cow mules on, and also be incredibly professional. It feels really good.
You’ve mentioned friends around the U.S. who are your style icons. Is there anyone in your daily life that inspires or informs your sense of style?
The people I work with have great fashion, which is why I really like inviting them to the clothing swap so I can steal their clothes. Another way I get identity from clothing is by following a lot of artists. I follow a lot of painters and there’s something about their fashion and identity that I’m really drawn to. I think it’s because it tends to be that mix of utilitarian when you’re being very messy but then also very visually strong statements.
[some of Morgan’s fav artists for style inspo: Inès Longevial, Maxine McCrann, Jo Rosenthal]
“You go to New York and everybody’s just dressing like they live in Maine. They’re dressing like they work at BIW, but spending a lot of money to do it.”
And my father’s been very inspiring. I know it doesn’t sound like it because I said he has the OCD closet of just white shirts and blue jeans, but so much of his fashion identity evolution happened in his mid seventies. He is legitimately a fashion style icon now as he’s nearing 80.
Has his white shirt/blue jean style changed at all?
No, but he can accessorize. In the 1970s he had long hair down to his butt and then he unfortunately went bald, so he kind of lost his accessory. But he grew this awesome beard and he fashion manicures it in this gorgeous way and he plays with his glasses frames and I can’t even count how many tattoos he’s gotten in his seventies, probably 50.
I think that’s why he’s such a style icon for me, that desire to just keep evolving, keep trying. Like don’t get stuck. You can just change. He’s having fun. He’s finding joy.
Who’s doing style well in Maine? Any people, brands or shops that you keep an eye on for good style?
It’s easy to forget when you’re here, but Maine itself does that thing I like, the utilitarian clothing. I’ve always dressed that way, which had felt a little outside the norm for California. Being a painter I always had like 40 different really rugged shirts that I could get filthy, but I would still wear them out in the world. And when I first moved to Maine, I was like, my God, these are my people! It’s all here. I’m not special anymore.
But I think it’s inherent in Maine, you have to be rugged to be here. Everyone from BIW to the fashion blogger, they’ve all got their Bean shirts, you know. In the last six years, you go to New York and everybody’s just dressing like they live in Maine. They’re dressing like they work at BIW, but spending a lot of money to do it.
Anything that we didn’t cover that we should have?
I’ve never actually thought about my style as much as this conversation, which is cool. I hope to just have more and more fun with fashion the older I get. I would love to be the weird lady at the coffee shop when I’m older that people are like, what is up with her? Look at that crazy outfit. Like that’s where I want to go. So I hope I don’t mess up anything on the way. ◊
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Georgia Dixon is a photographer living and working in Maine. GEOSTYLED started as a project to explore the art of getting dressed, and the Substack has grown to include profiles of artists, designers, and curators defining style in Maine. For more content like this, follow on Instagram @geo.styled and receive the weekly newsletter by becoming a subscriber.
I loved this! And as a Florida gal living in Maine, I too can relate to having to learn about things like wool and waiting patiently to wear my best summer outfits. (P.s. I want to join the clothing swap)