NONOO LYONS Gotham is known to breed fast friendships, especially among the young and newly arrived. “When I moved to New York, we became very close friends,” recalls Misha Nonoo, who hails from Bahrain and London. “And then one day Debs [London native Deborah Lyons] just came and said, like, we should do a line together, and I had the idea of jackets, and within two weeks we had sketches.”
Parsons grad Lyons also has a fledgling shoe line, while, in New York, Nonoo found her way to fashion via Jovani, where designer Saul Maslavi “basically taught me everything.” Now she and Lyons work together on “literally every single piece.” Outerwear just made sense: “You throw one on over a skirt, a pair of pants, jeans. That’s the way we dress.” Their debut fall collection is available at Takashimaya, Intermix, 66 in London and Sophie’s Choice in Lebanon.
The designers’ apparent nonchalance does not extend to finances. (The label is currently backed by their families.) Lyons cops to being “like the grim reaper” when it comes to focusing on the bottom line: “You’ve got to find new ways of doing things and make sure you work with the right people,” she says. On the Nonoo Lyons to-do list: a jeans collaboration to facilitate retail merchandising. Otherwise, these coat ladies have no desire to jump into full-on ready-to-wear anytime soon. Says Nonoo, “We like being niche at the moment.”
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