BACKGROUND
Designer Martha majored in English and minored in French at the University of the South: Sewanee.
During her junior year, she studied at the Sorbonne where French classes became more of a runway showcase than a learning center. It was always all about the fashion. After Paris, it was clear fashion would be in her future.
However, her dreams of starting a fashion line crashed one week before her college graduation. The night of May 5, 2013 she was a front-seat passenger in an automobile accident. Martha barely survived with a severed ear, broken ribs and back, and a traumatic brain injury. After a year of rehabilitation battling short-term memory loss and impairment of executive functions, Martha made a miraculous recovery.
Martha took this second chance to do what she loves, to communicate through a platform where she could inspire, connect, and create. Fashion became her outlet to inspire others to endure and overcome. It may sound trite, but clichés have to originate from something real and true.
Neubyrne; new you.
WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR THIS SEASONS COLLECTION?
Every line is a journey; this one started walking down the streets of Hoi An, Vietnam, when I saw this mask that immediately caught my eye.
The texture, the face, the colors…I knew right then and there that this little man was something special and now he is the face of this collection. That is what makes Neubyrne so exciting; the possibility of travel, of exposure to different cultures and different ways of life. You never know what you will discover or how it will inspire you. That is what we want to harness with this collection and every collection thereafter. That curiosity for the unknown. For exploration.
That’s Neubyrne.
Because with Neubyrne, it’s a new you…and you never know how many ways you can reinvent yourself until you try.
WHAT MATERIALS ARE USED IN THIS SEASONS COLLECTION?
One of our favorite materials this season is the beautifully intricate hand woven cloth from the Ta Oi Tribe, which features their symbolic language woven into the material.
WHERE ARE YOUR MATERIALS SOURCED AND YOUR GARMENTS MANUFACTURED?
We work in rural Vietnam, mainly Hue Province, including villages that run up to the Lao border. We do this by working closely with our partners Fashion4Freedom, a unique approach to enabling designers like me to access culture, craft and communities for collaboration.
They get access to markets and exposure through NYFW; we get to work with exceptional talent that is normally out of reach to many brands.
WHERE ARE YOU BASED?
I work between Richmond, VA and NYC. But in this digital age, you’re just as likely to find me on a call with Singapore, Vietnam or Europe.
WHERE DOES YOUR LINE CURRENTLY RETAIL?
Apart from our website, we will be taking Neubyrne on the road with a series of innovative pop-up shops celebrating the brand’s love for travel and exploration.
WHAT MAKES YOUR COLLECTION UNIQUE?
Neubyrne thrives on the extraordinary. Always be extra. Too much color? Nah. Never.
WHAT STATEMENT IS YOUR BRAND TRYING TO MAKE?
Reinvention never looked so good.