Misha Nonoo is a US-based British-Bahraini fashion designer, best known for her eponymous line of women's ready-to-wear.

Early life

Nonoo was born in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

to an Iraqi father of Jewish descent and an English mother. Her family moved to London when she was 11, and she attended

ACS Cobham ACS International Schools is a group of four independent schools catering for local and international families - three in England and one in Qatar. Until 2005, the organisation was known as American Community Schools. The four campuses are in C ...

school and

Guildford High School Guildford High School is an independent day school for girls that was founded in 1888. Approximately 1,000 girls between ages 4 to 18 attend the school from Guildford and its surrounding towns and villages. The school comprises a Junior School ...

in Surrey. During high school, Nonoo worked as a fashion model represented by Nevs agency. She moved to New York City in 2009, and worked in menswear for a tailoring company.

Career

In 2011, Nonoo launched her own fashion label. While working for a tailoring company in Manhattan, she designed and made women's jackets in her time after work. Nonoo was spotted at Prune restaurant by a senior buyer from

Intermix Berkley Books is an imprint of the Penguin Group. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Company" by Charles Byrne and Frederick Klein, who had worked for Avon; they quickly renamed it Berkle ...

, a chain of designer fashion boutiques, wearing one of her own designs, and received a purchase order of $150,000 for her first collection. She was a finalist in the 2013

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

/CFDA Fashion Fund. She was named to the Forbes' 30 Under 30 In Art & Style list as well as Crain's New York Business’ 40 under 40 in 2015. In 2015, Nonoo received media attention for producing a "insta-show" via

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

. She was the first designer to produce a fashion show exclusively on Instagram for her spring collection during

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

. By September 2017, Nonoo had released seasonal collections and begun manufacturing all products on-demand, claiming this reducing waste and lowered costs for her customers. In 2019, Nonoo collaborated with

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family and former actress. She is the wife of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III. Meghan wa ...

on a clothing collection for the women's charity group Smart Works, along with retailers

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashvill ...

, Jigsaw and

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

Personal life

Nonoo married

Alexander Gilkes Alexander Mark Heming Gilkes (born July 1979) is a British businessman. He is the co-founder of Squared Circles, launched in 2020, and was the co-founder and president of Paddle8 from 2011 to 2018 when it was sold to The Native. Paddle8 is an on ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, Italy in May 2012 with

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, Glamour (presentation), glamour, and melan ...

performing at the wedding. Their divorce was finalized in the summer of 2017. Her cousin

Houda Nonoo Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo ( ar, هدى عزرا نونو; born 7 September 1964) served as the Bahraini Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2013. She was appointed to the position by decree of Foreign Affairs Minister Khaled Ben Ahmad Al ...

was the

Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

's ambassador to the US. She became engaged to Michael Hess, an heir to the Hess Oil fortune. They were married in a ceremony at Villa Aurelia,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on 20 September 2019, and held a reception at

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios w ...

Film Studios. The wedding was attended by numerous royal and celebrity guests including

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her campy style, she has been referred to ...

Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' (2001), ''The Two Towers'' (2002), a ...

Wendi Murdoch Wendi Deng Murdoch (; born Deng Wen Di; December 5, 1968) is a Chinese-born American entrepreneur, investor, movie producer, media mogul, and collector of Chinese contemporary art. Early life and education Wendi Deng was born in Jinan, Shando ...

Dasha Zhukova Darya "Dasha" Alexandrovna Zhukova (russian: Дарья "Даша" Александровна Жукова; born 8 June 1981) is a Russian-American art collector, businesswoman, magazine editor, and socialite. She is the founder of the Garage ...

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and

Ivanka Trump Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman and the first daughter of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. She was a senior advisor in his administration, and also was the ...

, daughter of the then President of the United States.

Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter.

and former Beatles member Sir

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

, performed at the wedding. Misha Nonoo is a close friend of Meghan Markle, and has been named as one of the people that could have possibly introduced her to Prince Harry.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nonoo, Misha Living people American fashion designers Bahraini Jews British people of Bahraini descent Bahraini people of Iraqi-Jewish descent 1985 births