SAINT SINTRA
Martins’ story begins in Los Angeles where she discovered her love for fashion by working in her high school’s costume department. Afterward, she moved to New York City for college, studying literature and sociology at the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School.
What followed was a succession of internships including a year interning at Thom Browne and another at Wiederhoeft. While cutting her teeth at the aforementioned brands, Martins also began taking on custom orders to expand her skillset and establish her name.
Her work slowly began to garner attention. Early last year, she was contacted by stylist Cody Allen about creating a look for the cover of pop singer Slayyyter’s debut album, Troubled Paradise. Martins did not have a studio space yet so she began crafting the Dorothy-inspired dress out of her tiny studio apartment, which took up the entire floor.
Martins named her brand Saint Sintra, which was born loosely through the custom orders that came in around 2018. But it wasn’t until she acquired a Brooklyn studio in September of 2020 that she truly felt her label become official.
“I think throughout history, there’s always been a jester character, whether it’s the trickster a clown,” she says. “I think the space culturally, the space for mocking, and the space for jesting, is a really interesting one to me. I really liked the idea that we can laugh about things that are difficult to talk about. I gravitated towards this idea of the clown in the circus as being this introduction to the Saint Sintra world, because it feels both personal and on a larger macroscopic scale, it feels very relatable culturally.”
One major thread that runs through Martins’ work is disrupting the idea of exclusivity. Even as a skilled designer, the core of her label is dismantling the notion that dressmaking and couture are inaccessible by bringing it to a younger audience. Her approach to accessibility extends not only to the clothing, but to the entire persona of the brand.
