Sheikha Manar is 23 years old and started Lucky Nooni in Abu Dhabi although she is an Omani citizen. She likes to wear casual clothes and is devoted to Gulf or Khaleeji style. Sheikha Manar says, “We have a beautiful culture and tradition, and I want it to be part of my daily fashion routine as well, starting with my t-shirt.”
Lucky Nooni t-shirts look contemporary in a different way. Standard round neck shirts become special when adorned with Khaleeji motifs, and that’s the USP or unique selling proposition for the company. By doing something very local and marketing it through the website www.luckynooni.com, her blog, and other websites, Sheikha Manar gets the benefit of viral promotion and reaches customers wherever they might be, from the Gulf to as far as Louisiana in the US and New Zealand.
The clothes can be seen live in Bahrain at the Creme Boutique in Al Aali mall (www.creme-boutique.com). In the future, the designer hopes to see her designs on international runways. Possibly she will work on a line for men at some
point. Sheikha Manar received a master’s degree in diversity management from the University of Leeds in the UK, the first Arab to accomplish that. Her father and her uncles earned doctorates and occupy important positions in the Government of Oman. Grandfather Sheikh Talib Al Hinai was a major political leader and represented Oman at the United Nations in New York.
Despite the family background in politics and government, Sheikha Manar wasn’t interested in those areas. By the time she earned the master’s in 2009, she was already planning the launch of her fashion line which is why her work was highlighted at Tamakkan.
