First of all, this isn’t really a review of a “Fall” collection. For Misha Nonoo, seasons are no longer a real part of the conversation. The designer, who has steadily segued her brand out of stores and into a direct-to-consumer delivery model via her recently relaunched website, is now shifting her strategy further.
“We’ve found that it’s less about seasons, or about showing the customer clothes six months in advance,” said Nonoo. “What I’m inspired by is my customer's lifestyle. This is a woman who has breakfast and meetings at 9:00 a.m. and more all day, and then goes out to drinks and dinner at night, without having time to change in between."
In turn, Nonoo has developed what she calls the “day to play” model. “It's more about about helping our customer build a uniform.” This means that certain pieces--including a variety of white shirts, some button-backed, some cropped with bell sleeves, some with pleated backs and scarf-ties in front, and some designed to mimic one filched from the closet of your paramour--will never go out of season, though they may go momentarily out of stock. New clothes will arrive at a constant clip; around once a month.
About these new clothes, which will be introduced through a Snapchat story on September 7 (in a continuation of the brand's successful Instagram story for Spring 2016), even the pieces Nonoo calls the consciously “trend-driven,” will be comfortingly familiar to her customer. Chic, slouchy suiting; strappy crepe jumpsuits in cream and crimson, or vertical stripes; snappy ’60s minis in crinkly patent and tweed; shift dresses with cut-outs around the solar plexus; appealing little Courrèges-inspired snap-front patent dresses in aubergine and cream.
The Courrèges comparison is not without reason: Nonoo is hoping to create what she calls “building blocks,” a concept the young designers reviving that French label have adopted. In aiming to provide the 9:00 a.m.-to-9 p.m. garb to suit and thrill the modern millennial, Nonoo (who will be available to her customers for wardrobe advice through an "Ask Misha" section on her site) could certainly do worse for building blocks.
