The actor says nearly four years of pregnancy and breastfeeding left her feeling disconnected from her fashion identity, as she looks to rediscover the individuality that defined her style.
Sienna Miller says motherhood has dramatically changed her relationship with fashion, leaving her feeling as though she has temporarily lost the distinctive style that made her a leading figure in the “boho chic” movement of the 2000s.
The 44-year-old actor, who recently welcomed her third child, says she has spent almost four years either pregnant or breastfeeding and believes the experience has affected both her energy and her sense of identity.
“I have completely lost my fashion sense,” Miller says. “I’ve been pregnant or breastfeeding for nearly four years, and I think something happens to the brain – or you’re so tired – that you sacrifice your identity. You’re just ‘mother’.”
Yet her recent public appearances suggest that her fashion instincts remain intact. A neon Conner Ives housecoat worn to the Serpentine Summer Party in June and a jacquard Colleen Allen dress worn on The Tonight Show both attracted considerable attention.
“I know I have a good aesthetic,” Miller says. “I can tell when something’s lovely and when it’s not, but when it comes to putting clothes together myself, I don’t know – I’m just in a strange place.”
From boho chic to borrowed advice
Miller says she has increasingly turned to friends for help when deciding what to wear.
Before the premiere of Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger in London, she asked Alexa Chung for advice. Chung suggested a black dress with a Carrie Bradshaw-inspired look and a mule shoe.
Miller, however, joked that sleep deprivation had left her questioning even basic fashion terminology.
Her teenage daughter Marlowe, 14, is also proving to be an uncompromising fashion critic. Miller says her daughter recently dismissed a Chloé suede jacket by comparing it to Napoleon, prompting her to take it off.
“She’s very cool,” Miller says. “She doesn’t hold back with the criticism.”
Miller became synonymous with boho chic in the 2000s, developing her look through vintage finds and clothes from London’s Portobello Market. She says her interest in fashion began much earlier, influenced by watching her mother dress for evenings out.
As a teenager, she deliberately rejected matching outfits and experimented with pink hair and brightly mismatched trainers.
A lifelong connection with Barbour
Miller’s relationship with British clothing brand Barbour goes back to her childhood in Berkshire, where she describes herself as a horse-riding “country-bumpkin”.
She is now starring alongside Idris Elba in Barbour’s autumn/winter 2026 campaign, directed by filmmaker Shannon Murphy. The campaign follows two friends who arrive at different country pubs with the same name and become lost in the Scottish countryside.
Miller says working with Elba was particularly enjoyable, describing their relationship as one built on years of crossing paths within London’s acting community.
Her connection with Barbour is also deeply personal. She recalls being five years old when she was kicked in the face by a horse and remembers her father carrying her to hospital while wearing his Barbour jacket.
She says the smell of the waxed jacket has remained associated with a feeling of protection.
‘I’m yearning for individuality’
For the season ahead, Miller says she expects to keep things relatively simple: jeans, a good jumper and Phoebe Philo shoes.
More broadly, however, she says she hopes fashion moves away from what she describes as a standardized social-media aesthetic.
“I’m most excited about people breaking away from the social-media uniform,” she says. “I’m yearning for that individuality – for people who don’t have a playbook and have to go and cobble things together.”
Miller’s comments come as she continues to balance acting, motherhood and fashion projects. She recently appeared in the legal drama War, while also taking part in Barbour’s latest campaign.
Despite her claim that she has temporarily lost her fashion identity, Miller’s approach appears to be less about abandoning style than finding a new version of it after becoming a mother.
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