If this New York fashion season is all about by the next-gen, 25-year-old Sintra Martins is the group’s new romantic shooting star.
Her brand of fantastical femininity, influenced by her start in her L.A. high school’s theater costume department and honed during internships at Thom Browne and Jackson Wiederhoeft, has already been discovered by the young celeb set, including Olivia Rodrigo, Kim Petras and Sydney Sweeney.
Her fall collection, her second as part of New York Fashion Week, was a highlight of the weekend, from the first model walking out of the darkness at The Palace nightclub, fingernails out, in a boxy tuxedo jacket and trousers slashed at the hips and ankles. Ha!
“I was inspired by heraldry, medieval armor and feudalism,” Sintra said backstage by way of explaining the armor-like pieces and cuts at the joints throughout the collection, which had a refreshing level of experimentation.
Martins is a great tailor, as seen on a camel-colored deconstructed coat cut to pieces and adorned with curlicue ruffles at one shoulder. It was avant-garde but still approachable. A rounded bouclé jacket with articulated sleeves, worn with a miniskirt read like a Gen Z take on a lady suit, and multibow blouses worn with knickers or fluid trousers also looked salable.
For evening, Sintra really let her imagination run wild on a dress made from black lace ribbons that spiraled around the body and another constructed entirely of white loops, encasing the model like a slinky. A periwinkle silk slipdress trailed a sad-looking, twisted train, bringing to mind an emo Guinevere.
“I had an interest in creating exciting pieces,” Sintra said. “I felt a lot of the silhouettes, the drapes and ruffles, suggested a certain tragic glamour.”
We’re here for it.
