Southern Design Week is upon us. Presented by the Southern Coalition of Fashion & Design, SDW is in its first season (formerly known as NOLA Fashion Week) and focuses on highlighting regional talent rather than retail collections. So this is not your momma’s fashion show, thankfully. Get a little more info on the event in the November issue.
If you’ve never been to SDW, get there now. As in, take off work and get in the car now. A great way to focus your personal style is through inspiration, and this event has no shortage of it. Where else are you going to see up-and-coming designers with an incredible amount of talent, all just an hour away?
NOLA-born Brooklyn resident Noël Martin is just one of the many designers showing this week. This will be the fourth runway collection the 22-year-old designer has presented in New Orleans. She also graduated from Parsons The New School for Design in May. Get to know a little about her collection and her love of rap below.
Your collection was inspired by a combination of your “favorite fashion icons and a love for the influence of ’90s hip hop on street style.” Who are some of those icons?
These fashion icons are a huge influence on me because of their personal style, but also their attitudes. Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stevens [on Bewitched] is definitely the big one. She is so classy and timeless, but also an incredible fashion icon. I feel like she was pretty sassy for a housewife in 1964 when the show originally aired. But also Sophia Loren, Bridget Bardot, Audrey Hepburn (obviously), Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Bianca Jagger, Debbie Harry, Jane Fonda, Jerry Hall, Cher… I could seriously go on forever. I kept them all in mind.
What’s your go-to ’90s hip hop song? Well, the music for the show is very much going to give that away, but I am never going to get tired of old Jay-Z and I secretly love Twista … no judgment.
What is your favorite piece in this collection? My favorite piece isn’t done yet. Hopefully it will make the runway. I am so proud of my fur varsity letters, though. It was a vision I’ve had forever and I finally pushed myself to take the time and do it! Each letter is hand cut, hand trimmed, and hand sewn.
What will Thursday look like for you? Thursday will be so bittersweet. I am going to look a mess. I will be double-checking all the aspects of the production of the show because I might have outdone myself with that this season. Just signing off on everything, music and light cues, trying to do a show run-through and accounting for all my girls and hand sewing up until the last minute for sure.
Do you have a pre-show ritual? I guess I don’t really, but two things always happen on show day: I am constantly talking myself down, just saying, “Stay calm. You got this.” and [going] back to the checklist.
The weirdest thing I do is rap. So far, I have had at least one rap song in every show, and I am always rapping whatever that song is backstage while the show happens. That’s the most intense part, and the rapping keeps me from crying. I know that probably sounds so weird …
You’re originally from New Orleans, but currently living in Brooklyn. Why is it important for you to show at Southern Design Week? When I left Louisiana for SCAD [Savannah College of Art and Design], I started realizing everything would change slightly each time I came home. This was so sad for me because I didn’t feel like I belonged in Savannah and NOLA started feeling less and less like home. I finally moved to New York because I knew I needed to, and I started seeing NOLAFW posts all over my feed. I was so determined to get involved because here I was, pursuing a fashion career, and there was a whole network of people from my home doing the same thing. Once I started showing here I felt like I got my home back, and a whole new family and network of the most amazing supportive people I’ve ever met. This is my way of staying involved and becoming a fixture of the growing fashion community in New Orleans.
If you had to describe your customer in three words, what would they be? Independent. Confident. Free.
What’s next for you? I have some things brewing … But I am ready to introduce my brand to a bigger, wider audience. I’ll leave it at that.
Martin will show her collection on Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery. Also showing that night will be SCFD founder and 225‘s 2013 Person to Watch Andi Eaton and Project Runway alums Matthew Arthur and former 225 cover star Anthony Ryan Auld. 225 will be hanging out at the shows, so come tell us hello or follow along on Instagram.
