Who Is Meghan Markle's Best Friend Misha Nonoo?

If you're a fashion enthusiast, chances are you've heard of Misha Nonoo. Nonoo has been a New Yorker for quite some time now, but she originally hails from Bahrain in the Middle East — her mother is English, and her father is Iraqi Jewish. She spent most of her childhood in London, however. 

She's been featured on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list and is a pretty well-known fashion designer whose clothes have been worn by the likes of Meghan Markle, who also happens to be her best friend. Many believe that Nonoo is the unnamed friend who set Meghan up with Prince Harry (in which case, she could add royal matchmaker to her list of accomplishments). Nonoo, of course, has remained mum about whether or not the rumors are true.

Nonoo completed her education in London and Paris, and this is also where she discovered that she loved fashion. She didn't initially set out to become a designer, however. She told Vanity Fair that she completed a degree in business instead of going to fashion school; she was living in Paris at the time and was surrounded by people who had excellent taste in clothes. She would often assess what they were wearing, telling the outlet, "That was an integral part of my fashion education." Nonoo moved to New York because she loved the city's "entrepreneurial spirit," and as fate would have it, she landed a job at a small tailor, which eventually kick-started her career.

In 2012, Misha Nonoo married Alexander Gilkes, who also happens to be one of Prince Harry's friends from Eaton. They seemed the perfect pair. Nonoo loved fashion and Gilkes also had a creative side — he cofounded Paddle 8, an art auction house in New York. 

Royal watchers might recall that Princess Eugenie worked there at one point. Nonoo first met Gilkes when she was 17 and initially thought he was gay. "He was so handsome and well dressed," she told The New York Times. They fell madly in love and tied the knot in 2012. It was a dream wedding — the couple said their vows in Venice under the roof of a 16th-century castle, and Lana Del Rey swung by to serenade the newlyweds. The celebrations lasted three days.

To outsiders, it appeared that the couple was nailing married life — they were known for their social connections and grand parties, but these things do not a marriage make, and four years after their fairy-tale wedding, Nonoo and Gilkes called it quits. A source told Page Six that the couple's jobs got the best of their marriage. "They both travel a lot. They are both wildly ambitious, but their relationship became a casualty of their ambition," the tipster divulged.

Misha Nonoo was passionate about sustainable fashion long before it became cool. When she launched her self-titled line in 2011, sustainability was at the center of her brand. Nonoo is under no illusion that it's possible to make clothes that have no impact on the environment, so she instead focuses on keeping her brand sustainable in the areas she deems the most important, and it didn't happen overnight. "We are trying to become more and more sustainable incrementally. We started with our manufacturing, went on to packaging, then moved on to looking at fabrics. We are now looking across our entire supply chain and our processes," she told Vanity Fair in 2020.

There's a reason Nonoo wants her company to be earth-friendly — she wants to leave a legacy. While appearing on the "No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis" podcast, she explained that her father inspired her passion for business. "He was extremely hardworking and how he built his business and how much he derived the passion that I saw him with, going to work every day ... that aspect comes from him a little bit," she said.

Three years after launching her first line, Nonoo also teamed up with Aldo to design a shoe collection. Aldo's CcO, Douglas Bensadoun, was very impressed with Nonoo's work, telling The Daily Mail that she nailed the design. "Her design has a deep affinity for the multifaceted needs of the modern woman," he said.

One of the things Misha Nonoo and Meghan Markle have in common is their impeccable style, and when Meghan designed her Smart Set capsule collection to raise funds for the Smart Works charity, Nonoo was all too happy to lend a hand. For those not in the know, Smart Works provides job-hunting women with clothes to wear to interviews. It's easy to see why Meghan and Nonoo were excited to contribute.

People were going crazy over Nonoo's "The Husband" shirt when Meghan wore it at the Invictus Games one year, so she designed a similar button-down for Meghan's capsule collection. It's arguably one of the reasons for the collection's success — Meghan sold enough clothes to sustain the charity for a year within 10 days of launching the collection.

Nonoo told Vanity Fair that it's a project she's very proud of, and of course, working with her best friend was a dream. Nonoo told Today: "I think that is something that her and I bonded over from the very early days of our relationship was that she genuinely seeks to help people. It comes from a place deep within her where she really wants to make people's lives better." Even though Meghan isn't a designer, Nonoo says she was very involved with the project. "She's the consummate professional, and she's been extremely hands-on in the project, and it's something that she's really passionate about," she said.

When you ask Misha Nonoo what she does to relax, you'll find that gong baths, meditation, and sound healing are at the top of her list. She told The Standard that she loves trying "many a weird, experimental thing." Nonoo revealed that she's "very spiritual" and practices meditation twice a day (if she can do it with her hectic schedule, the rest of us probably have no excuse).

In another interview with The Standard where Nonoo shared all her health hacks, she revealed that she practices transcendental meditation for 20 minutes in the morning, and sometimes, she would pop in at MNDFL in New York, where you can meditate while listening to singing bowls. "We have so much noise in our day-to-day lives so it makes sense to meditate with noise too," Nonoo said.

Apart from exercising her mind, Nonoo also takes time out of her day to do some physical exercise. "I am a Tracy Anderson devotee and go to her NY studio for all my classes," she revealed, adding that she also loves walking her dog to work. Nonoo is also a big fan of acupuncture and tries to fit in a session every two months. While she strives to eat a healthy, balanced diet, Nonoo will fight someone for a bag of tortilla chips (who wouldn't?) and loves to indulge in some red wine.

It's no secret that Meghan Markle had a tough relationship with the British media — she had to weather relentless criticism and plenty of derogatory opinion pieces during her time as a member of the royal family. Former President Donald Trump called Meghan "nasty" on one occasion, several articles were written about her crumbling relationship with her father, and once she became a mother, the press had a new angle, criticizing the way she held her son and condemning her and Prince Harry for traveling by private jet when their small family went on holiday. 

Misha Nonoo, while usually remaining mum about Meghan, wasn't having it, and during an interview with Today, she defended her friend.

"I think it's unjust, and I think that people should really focus on the good work they do," she said. "A good example of that is this is her first official engagement after having had her baby, [and] it's all about empowering women, all about what she has essentially always sought to do." Nonoo made it clear that Meghan's passion for empowering women precedes her relationship with Harry — it's always been a cause close to her heart. Nonoo added that she was excited for Harry and Meghan to embark on their royal African tour. "When she goes to Africa with Prince Harry and their new little one, she is going to do some events there on empowering women," Nonoo said.

Something else Misha Nonoo and Meghan Markle have in common these days is that they're both mothers. Nonoo gave birth to her first child, Leo, in 2020. Speaking to The Daily Mail, Nonoo revealed that she and her husband Michael Hess' lives "have been forever changed. We love [him] more than we ever thought possible and cannot wait to share every adventure with [him]," she said.

In November of the following year, Nonoo gave birth to her second child, Marina, but there were some complications during her birth which led to a challenging time for Nonoo and Hess. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Nonoo opened up about the birth of her daughter and how she went into early labor far from home. Marina had to undergo several surgeries (Nonoo did not reveal what for) and was in the NICU for several weeks. During this time, Nonoo couldn't even hold her daughter.

While this was a very challenging time, Nonoo said that she was sharing her story in the hopes of letting other women know that they are not alone. "In sharing the difficulty of the past six months, I want to give hope to those who might be struggling with a similar situation and to help others feel more comfortable with sharing their own challenges," she wrote in the post's caption (via Hello Magazine).

From the outside, it might appear as if Misha Nonoo has it all. She's a famous fashion designer and runs a successful business, she's married to the dreamboat that is Michael Hess and is the mother of two beautiful children, but like all of us, she's just human, which means she has the same insecurities we all struggle with.

Speaking to Build Like a Woman, Nonoo was asked how she handles doubting herself. Her answer was surprisingly vulnerable. "I doubt myself every day," she replied. "Every single day I wake up full of doubts about everything." As for how she manages it, Nonoo said that exercise and meditation help to clear her mind so she can move beyond those nagging doubts.

She also emphasized that you shouldn't let doubt hold you back. "It's really important to not let that 'how' get the better of you, you know? It's a work in progress every single day and to not be too hard on yourself," she said. Nonoo admitted that she has to take her own advice because she tends to chastise herself for the things she hasn't accomplished yet. "Sometimes I'm like, just be really grateful for what you have done." If Nonoo's accomplishments are anything to go by, this approach is a foolproof one.