Why We All Want to Be (and Dress) Like Natalie Martin

Why We All Want to Be
(and Dress) Like Natalie Martin

Natalie Martin has had the travel itch since as far back as she can remember. Growing up in the small beach town of Noosa, Australia—where she likens the fashion pool to more of a tiny pond—the designer always felt like she was worlds away from the action.

“The minute I finished university, I was like, Okay, I’m getting on a plane,” says Martin. “My mom bought me this round-the-world ticket that I could fly anywhere on.”

Her great escape reads a lot like a plot of an onscreen love story: Aussie girl meets American boy. Boy and girl travel to Paris. Boy asks girl to move to California with him, and the rest, as they say, is history. “You can’t plan these things, even at twenty-one!” laughs Martin, who has since planted her roots in LA with her now husband, Kevin Martin, and son, Jasper.

After years of grinding it out at the Italian brands Tod’s and Hogan, Martin saw a white space in the market for easy-to-wear dresses. “I grew up going to Bali,” she explains. “I always loved the batik prints, the silks, the embroidery—that’s really where the idea was born.”

Launching a namesake label wasn’t supposed to be an overnight success story. For Martin, it was about playing the long game. “I never wanted to be number one,” she insists. “I felt like if I didn’t think of it as this large-scale operation, it became more achievable.” As for those billowing fabrics and mesmerizing prints? They’ve become modern-day regalia for the laid-back, la vie Bohème lifestyle Martin herself represents—a lifestyle that legions of women around the globe seek to emulate.

“I like seeing what resonates with people,” she says. “I love designing a print and seeing it go from the beginning stages of testing colors to final dress form. And at the end of the day, I really love that I get to make women feel feminine, comfortable, and pretty.”

We chatted with Martin about the rat race of fashion, why good friends and great tequila are her ultimate definition of self-care, and—with Bali out of the picture (for now)—what’s keeping her creative juices flowing.

“Prior to the pandemic, I was going to Bali about three times a year. And honestly, I was quite burned out,” says Martin. “Just when you finish selling one collection, it’s: ‘Okay, what are we doing next?’ But now, I feel like I’m ready to get back because it’s such a huge source of inspiration for me.”

“In the beginning, all of our prints were done with a batik wax method, where you stamp the cloth with a wax stamp, dye it, stamp it again, and dry it outside—a truly laborious process that was also weather-dependent,” she explains. “But the bigger we grew, the trickier it became. Now we do a hand-screened process that’s not as painstakingly long as the batik, but there are still some of those unique irregularities that come through, which I find to be one of the cooler parts of the line. There are so many hands touching these pieces from beginning to end, and that’s what makes them so special.”