One to Watch: Nonoo

Saville Row influences this designer who combines classic tailoring with feminine touches

Having grown up in London, 25-year-old Misha Nonoo's cultivated a love for fashion on Savile Row. "The Savile Row tailoring plays such an important part in the culture," she says. "Possibly, it had the most profound influence on my design aesthetic."

Though fashion would always be her ultimate career objective, Nonoo understood early that launching a line would require keen business sense.

"I felt that in order to fulfill my entrepreneurial hopes I should have some business background," explains the designer, who has since relocated to New York City. Working with a "small designer in New York that still produced in the garment center," Nonoo learned firsthand the ins-and-outs of domestic fashion production. "Only then did I feel ready to fully fulfill my dream of being a designer and having my own label."

Launched in the fall of 2011, Nonoo's eponymous collection of ready-to-wear blends her affinity for classic tailoring techniques with fresh, feminine silhouettes. "I am a woman and I design for other women," she says. "I understand the key items that a woman needs in her wardrobe, and also how she needs to wear them."

While the focus generally falls on knockout dresses and evening looks—a scarlet halter gown tied with a sash at the waist is a particular highlight of the spring collection—the line achieves a kind of balance with more masculine pieces, including expertly-tailored trench coats, structured blazers and slouchy button-down blouses. High-end fabrics, such as pebbled crepe and cashmere sourced from European mills, lends each piece a luxe, touchable look.

"It may be a discreet slit on the coat of a sleeve, or a French lace trim detail on a skirt," Nonoo says of the carefully-crafted details that enrich each piece. "The clothes appear simple but the quality of the cut, combined with the excellent tailoring means that we are, fortunately, building a strong customer base." After looking through the new lookbook, that customer base is at least one fashion-blogger stronger.

$150 to $895 at Nonoony.com

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