Saint Sintra Is All Grown Up For FW22
Sintra Martins has thrown all of her ingenuity into her sophomore Saint Sintra collection—and it shows!
For Sintra Martins’ second NYFW showing of her namesake line Saint Sintra, the young designer—a graduate of Parsons who worked for Thom Browne and Wiederhoeft before launching her own line, and now counts Miley Cyrus, Willow Smith, and Sydney Sweeney as Saint Sintra die-hards—pulled out all of her design chops for F/W ‘22.
Staged at an intimate, low-lit mirrored lounge in nightlife venue The Palace in SoHo, Martins’ second collection proves itself an evolution of form for the artist. The usually playful Saint Sintra detailing and color palettes are still present, with stripes and tartans and bows all over, in soft pinks and baby blues throughout. But now, these elements are joined by darker jewel tones, clean khakis and more whites, and a mature approach to suiting—speaking of, new, too, are the more finely tuned silhouettes, reminiscent of yesteryear menswear but mixed with a 21st century female gaze and imagination. Fresh fabrications also make appearances, like a heavy orange mohair plaid, worsted calvary twills, tuxedo barathea, and traditional English shetland tweeds (Martins’ knack for finding uncommon materials and locales to source her textiles is apparent here, and seems to be a trend which may stay with her into the future).
“This season was all about bringing out the directional elements of the brand,” Martins tells V of the inspiration behind the current collection. “We wanted to further develop the house codes, like the bows, the stripes, the shirting and tailoring. But, without losing the playful ingenuity that is at the core of Saint Sintra.”
Martins also agrees that this season really is about growth for her. “I do think this season is much more mature than the last,” she admits. “We really wanted to showcase a collection for the Saint Sintra woman, who’s no longer just a girl. We incorporated more luxury textiles, pushing forward quality over quantity, and stability over ephemerality. I have so much to be proud of right now… I think this season, much more than last, everyone involved [in Saint Sintra] is seeing a bright future for the brand, and that’s the most incredible outcome I could possibly have asked for!”
Standouts from F/W ‘22 Saint Sintra include a coat with an articulated sleeve reminiscent of a knight’s armor, thick cotton tartan jackets, cropped oxfords and poplins with cascading oversized bows, and cropped miniskirts paired with men’s finishings. Evening wear, a specialty of Martins’, introduces new shapes and shades this season, like a gorgeous silk periwinkle raglan bias cut dress and an impressively constructed off-white cotton wedding gown with paper strips-like attachments.
Once the string of models had made their final walks through the space for the show’s finale, the crowd of friends and fans erupted into cheers as Martins herself took to the winding catwalk. This season, the normally shy fashion savant seemed more sure of herself, holding her head high as the clapping for her art reached the ceilings—indicative of the good things yet to come for Saint Sintra.