
Mother Stories
Meet Designer And Mama Of One, Natalie Martin
Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano
Photography by Photographed by Maria Del Rio
Aug 8, 2017
If you haven’t heard of Natalie Martin—both the woman and her namesake fashion line—chances are you’ll be a fan after this profile. Filled with breezy, boho silhouettes and decorated with hand batik prints, the line comprised of stunning dresses, kimonos, and separates is the embodiment of relaxed glamour. And, as we learned after visiting her home in Los Angeles, so is the woman behind the brand. Below, the Australia native and mother to one (Jasper, 9) shows off some of her double-take-inducing designs and talks motherhood, entrepreneurship, and more.
- "We have been here about 5 years. We were looking for a house in a great school district and stumbled upon this one on Craigslist of all places. The pictures were terrible, but we decided to check it out anyway and immediately fell in love."
- "There are always a few guitars around, but we also love concert posters, which we have framed and hung. My husband is a big fan of black and white photography and loves Mick Jagger and The Stones."
- Rock posters mixed with other quirky artwork.
- A self-portrait by Jasper.
- "I guess I would call it a modern boho bungalow."
- "We are really relaxed, I want one to feel like they can put their feet on the couch, not uptight at all. I like to buy pieces that are interesting and tell a story. We are slowly weeding out the IKEA purchases of our youth. It's a process."
- Instax memories.
- "My husband is a little OCD, so kid stuff everywhere just does not work for him at all. Jasper's room is actually bigger than ours, so he has an area to play, as well, and we can keep all of his stuff in one end of the house."
- Shelfie.
- "There is no story really, I just saw it and fell in love with it. Oh, and I’m a Pisces."
- Natalie wears a Natalie Martin Georgia kimono and Rag & Bone jeans. Jasper wears a shirt made by a friend and Zara jeans.
- "Watching Jasper grow up is the most exciting thing for me. I love how he embraces life and the changes that go with it. He’s very easy going and, honestly, he’s such a joyous and creative kid that it makes my job seem easy."
- "How quickly it's going by and knowing that those dreaded teenage years are just around the corner."
- The look of love.
- "I got it from Anthropologie. They have some really interesting homeware pieces and not too expensive."
- "I just wanted to keep it light. I love a crisp white sheet and I like to wake up to the sun, so we don’t have curtains on our windows. It's really basic, but it feels like a little sanctuary, a place to let go of the day's stresses."
- Natalie wears a Natalie Martin Danika dress.
- "Lots of outdoor experiences. Noosa, Australia is a beautiful little beach town and at the time was incredibly small and very safe. We'd spend a whole day at the beach sometimes or we’d go camping up the North Shore or it was a day at the farmers markets or boating, fishing, etc. It was an amazing childhood and I’ve always felt so blessed to have been raised that way."
- "By being very loving and caring, not overly protective, and allowing me to be me."
- "My mom has always been my icon. She has always been my biggest champion and would drop anything she was doing at any time to help me or provide me the opportunities that I needed to reach my goals."
- "I love that there’s so much to do and see here. I love the mix of great museums, the beach, and the mountains are only a couple hours away."
- Beautiful dresses from Natalie's namesake line.
- "Yes, we often think about doing a year in Australia or Bali. I think it will be something we consider more seriously when Jasper is in middle school."
- "I love his room. It's airy with a lot of light. I think it suits him and his creative nature. We are in the process of purging a few things—toys, books, etc. You just accumulate so much when they are younger. But it's hard to let go of things sometimes. We just took a bunch of toys with us to Bali to give to the kids there. Jas loved it."
- "I love his bed, I love to lay there and read stories. His favorite would be his StarWars lego collection. He is very particular about how the characters are organized."
- And a Jasper shelfie.
- "Jasper was always my first 'baby' name. I’ve always loved it and my husband loves Jasper Johns, so of course he was on board, no question. We chose Ryan as his middle after my brother who is very special to me, he was my best friend growing up and we are still so very close."
- "He’s 9 now and loves the guitar, School of Rock, soccer, and the ocean. My husband jokes that he might actually be a fish because he loves the ocean that much."
- "Boys are great and they love their moms!"
- "I have found the juggle really difficult at different times. It’s hard to keep all the balls in the air. I guess my advice would be ask for help and always have a bottle of wine in the fridge."
- "I don’t think so, but I think about it sometimes."
- Jasper's sketches.
- "I would tell her to try to relax, don’t stress too much. There will be days that you feel you have failed as a mother, there will be times you feel like a winner, but ultimately you just want to try and enjoy all the moments because it goes by in a blink."
- Jasper wears Zara.
- Taking after daddy.
- "I design clothing for and run my namesake clothing line, Natalie Martin."
- "As a teenager in Australia, I was really inspired by fashion and would go searching for pieces at thrift stores and rework them to make them my own. At the same time, I would spend summers in nearby Bali, and always loved the gorgeous silk sarongs I’d see everywhere and imagined how great it would be to make dresses out of them. I guess for me, It was always a part of who I was, so it was sort of a natural step when I started my line 6 years ago."
- "I grew up in a beautiful, quaint beach town in Australia, called Noosa. After university, where I studied industrial design, my parents bought me a ‘round the world ticket' and I spent the next year traveling. I came here to the U.S. and ended up meeting my husband, which was not a part of the plan at 22. But you can’t plan these things, the universe has its own vision. It was really one of the best decisions I made for myself, to see the world at that age."
- Natalie wears a Natalie Marin Fiore dress and Saint Laurent sandals. Jasper wears Zara.
- "I’ve gotten better at making decisions. I have to prioritize my time more as a mother, so that encourages me to make work time count, and learn to delegate what isn’t completely necessary for me to be in charge of, so that I can have more time, energy, and mental space when I’m with my son."
- "I want my son to grow up seeing me do what I love and put hard work into a life that inspires me. I think I would be doing the same thing if I wasn’t a mother, but being one really pushes me to keep going."
- "When I had Jasper I was working out of the house, so I didn’t really take a proper maternity leave. I guess I would just try to get things accomplished between feeds and naps."
- "I love when I see women wearing my pieces and feeling beautiful in them! The best part of working for myself, of course, is getting to do things on my terms and following my vision."
- "I have an amazing group of girlfriends here in L.A. Many of them are also moms, and I feel so lucky that we can all hang out and our kids have a great time together. I wish my family were closer, but they are all in Australia."
- "I think it has given me more meaning behind what I do, so yes!"
- "My personal style is pretty low-key for the most part."
- "Becoming a mother might have just reinforced my long-standing belief in clothes that are easy, and that I feel good in. I design the pieces in my line with the same thought behind them."
- "A great pair of jeans and a t-shirt are my day-to-day staples. And when I want to feel a little more put together, I’ll just throw on one of my dresses and head out the door."
- "Most of my closet is my own brand, but I love Rag & Bone jeans, Saint Laurent shoes, and Isabel Marant."
- "Mostly online, but I love going to Barneys."
- "I'm super low maintenance when it comes beauty. I love body oils, like Tata Harper, and Tom Ford foundation."
- "I really need to work on my wellness routine, it's kind of nonexistent at the moment. I love to hike and I usually hike Runyon Canyon three times a week, but everything falls apart over the summer."
- "Me time is usually wine/dinner with my girlfriends, a good laugh with friends is the best. I also love to go to the Korean spa for a scrub and massage."
- For more on Natalie and Jasper, follow her Instagram feed and check out her site.
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