Misha Nonoo, who kicked off the pool-slide trend with models wearing them in her resort 2014 look book, has her eye on the next Teva/Birkenstock/name-your-ugly-“It”-shoe. “Anything that involves PVC, which is not something that you would necessarily imagine,” she said, then clarified that she is not talking about jelly shoes. “Something that is clear and literally looks like it’s sheer. I would also say that, in my mind, sunglasses are becoming the next shoe. You know how it was always about the shoe, the shoe, the shoe? I think sunglasses are going to be the next hot accessory, where people are looking more at that than they are at your shoes. That’s my prediction for the future.” She’s also a fan of shoes involving fur, meaning heirs to Céline’s Furkenstocks. “Those could definitely be a trend with legs. No pun intended.”
As a member of the CFDA Incubator, Nonoo was one of ten labels honored last night at the Target/CFDA dinner, along with Katie Ermilio; Isa Tapia; Lucio Castro; Yara Flinn of Nomia; Kaelen Haworth of Kaelen; Sara Beltrán of Dezso by Sara Beltrán; Sarah Law of Kara; Dana Arbib, Farah Malik, and Jesse Meighan of A Peace Treaty; and Matthew Orley, Alex Orley, and Samantha Florence of Orley. The designers chatted about how they’d bonded sharing the space, from Tapia and Beltrán working late into the night together to Flinn serving as a kind of Ethel Mertz to Haworth. “Kaelen is across the hall from me, and I’ll pop in ten times a day. I know it’s annoying, but I’m so excited to have buddies around. We all keep our doors open, and people feel comfortable walking in to say hi.”
Last night also marked the announcement of three big initiatives for the Incubator denizens: four summer workshops where the designers will have the opportunity to learn from industry mentors, plus opportunities to compete to host a pop-up shop at Target and to design tech accessories for the big-box retailer. Said Target’s director of design partnerships, Noria Morales, the Incubator crew are “the talent we need to foster in order to a sustain a design community that’s meaningful for the future. We find it exciting, whether they’re designing a $200 sweater, a $5,000 dress, or a $20 iPad case.”
