CFDA Fashion Incubator designer Misha Nonoo shares her adventures in Beijing

As a designer in the CFDA Fashion Incubator, an initiative supported by W Hotels Worldwide that fosters young fashion brands, Misha Nonoo was given a round-trip ticket to travel abroad this winter to seek inspiration for her forthcoming resort and spring 2016 collections. She spun the globe and put her finger on Beijing. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Great Wall and the immense history of Beijing,” she says. “And now that China has the number-one economy, I was curious to see how it would change in the future.” Having grown up in Bahrain and London before moving to Paris and later New York, Nonoo has something of a gypsy spirit, which is often evident in her collections. For spring 2013, she nodded to Havana’s languid climes with crisp white silhouettes and colorful prints, while the following season she featured a palette of black-and-red fabrics and furry hats reminiscent of a trip to the Russian countryside.

米莎·诺努是美国时装设计师协会时装孵化项目的一名设计师，该项目由W全球酒店赞助，致力于培育年轻时装品牌。诺努得到了一张往返机票，可以在这个冬季出国旅行，为即将到来的2016度假和春夏时装系列寻找灵感。她转动地球仪，手指停在了北京。“我一直对长城以及北京悠久的历史着迷，”她说，“现在，中国经济在世界上首屈一指，我对它未来会如何变化很好奇。”诺努在巴林和伦敦长大，后来搬到了巴黎和纽约，她身上有一种吉卜赛精神，这也经常醒目地体现在她的服装系列之中。她的2013年春夏系列通过清新的白底彩色印花向哈瓦那慵懒的气候致意，而在之后的一季，她的黑红面料和毛皮帽子让人想起俄罗斯乡村之旅。

Upon landing in Beijing for her six-day scouting trip, Nonoo acclimated herself by hopping on the city’s mass transit system. “When you go by car, you just arrive somewhere; you don’t take the actual journey,” she says. “The subway is dirt-cheap and fast, and nothing is written in English so you need to get detailed descriptions of what the characters look like for where you’re going. It’s totally foreign. When you’re confused by your surroundings, I find that deepens the adventure.” Here, Nonoo shares snapshots of what caught her eye.

她的北京发现之旅包括六天时间。她一踏上这片土地，就入乡随俗，搭乘这座城市的公共交通系统。“坐轿车的话，你只是到达某个地方；你并没有进行真正的旅行，” 她说，“地铁很便宜，又很快，标牌上没有英语，所以你要仔细弄清目的地的汉字写法。对我来说，这完全是异国风情。如果周围的环境让我迷惑，就更有探险的感觉。” 诺努在这里与我们分享照片，展示那些吸引她目光的情景。

Misha Nonoo at the Summer Palace, Beijing. “I was still a little jet-lagged, but I love walking and being on foot when I’m in a new place. I like to get lost in the landscape. The Summer Palace is amazing since it’s so vast and it’s situated around this massive lake. I had been told China would be crowded with tourists, but in December, I almost had the place to myself.”

“798 is the contemporary art district in Beijing, which is where I saw this cool plastic sculpture. I think it encapsulates China: It’s not so considered, like the architecture of the city. It’s a bit haphazard, really layered and textured.”

“This is at Jingshan Park, where I’m looking up at the one of the temples that surrounds the park. I just love the intricate detail and the jade green and red colors, which are very symbolic in China. This pattern could inspire a really colorful and bold embroidery.”

“I spent five or six hours walking up and down the Great Wall. It’s amazing to think it was built around 200 B.C. You feel so small when you’re here. It’s a spiritual moment. You start to think: What effort will I leave behind that will stand longer than myself? As a designer and entrepreneur, I think about that.”

“This was taken at one of the pottery markets. Everyone laughs at me because even though I’m 28, I have this funny old-lady habit of collecting blue-and-white pottery from around the world. So I really wanted to explore what I could find here, since China is so famous for its ceramics. I ended up buying a lot of these pieces.”

The Forbidden City. “The light in China is beautiful in December. When it’s cold and windy, it pushes the smog and pollution aside.”

“These are engraved walnuts, which I had no idea were such a big deal in China. They’re inscribed with really intricate detail and can fetch up to millions in auction. You’re supposed to buy two and pass them back and forth in your hands, instead of twiddling with your thumbs. In the end, I didn’t buy them. I decided that if I’m twiddling my thumbs, that’s a problem!”

“At the Summer Palace, one of the lakes was frozen over except for this little area, where all these oversized goldfish came to the surface. I just thought this beautiful show of brightly colored orange fish was so visually arresting. I posted this shot on my Instagram and someone commented on how it would make a great wallpaper!”

“A hand-painted sunken ceiling at the Forbidden City. The tiling was absolutely beautiful and the colors are amazing. If there’s only one thing I could take away from China it would be the level of detail and intricacy — it’s truly unbelievable. In my collection, there’s a lot of embroidery and hand-finishing. I have a great appreciation for anything handcrafted.”

“I love this lapis color. I found these beads at another market, which had many different sizes and shapes of natural stones. I’ve used this color in my collections in the past, and it’s my husband’s favorite. We even had a bedroom in our last apartment that was painted a very similar shade. It’s just a happy color.”