The Designer You Could Wear To Your Future Wedding: Zoba Martin
Zoba Martin is the creative force behind her self titled brand Zoba Martin, a Toronto-based luxury fashion brand known for custom, hyper-flattering garments and bridal couture.
Zoba’s work is a testament to her commitment to storytelling through fashion. She’s even collaborated with one of the biggest artist on the planet, Drake, and she’s just getting started.
Her Agenda caught up with Zoba to discuss her approach to fashion, celebrating individuality and what’s coming up next.
Her Agenda: I would love to know the moment Zoba Martin was born, like what inspired you to start your brand?
Zoba Martin: The inspiration of my brand [started] when I was done with fashion school: I had my final project, which [was] a fashion show. I showed my pieces and just the encouragement I received, like when people saw my brand, that was an invitation for me to continue the brand because I put in so much work into the collection. I guess I had only been sewing for two years by that time and I was just really enjoying the process. [So] I just said, you know what? I love to do it and people also love to see it. So I think it’s a win-win.
Her Agenda: I was looking through your designs and they feel so personal yet intentional. What stories do you hope each piece in Zoba Martin carries?
Zoba Martin: When I design pieces, especially for clients, I make it so that it carries their own story. I like to collaborate with my clients. I just want to tie that story into the piece. My thing with creating is just [make pieces that] people cherish and hold it for a long time, not just to discard it. Actually, I didn’t want to do cheap fashion. So I try to infuse my client’s personalities as well as my expression in the pieces, so it means more to them.
Her Agenda: You’ve spoken about celebrating individuality and honoring your Nigerian heritage. How do your roots influence your creative direction and your business philosophy?
Zoba Martin: My roots definitely, because in Nigeria, first of all, if there’s an event, the first thing people do is go to a tailor to make something for, that’s the first choice. It’s never going to the stores to buy something. Even like just going to church on Sundays, when I used to go to church with my family, the outfit is an outfit. You have to wear something extravagant.
So that definitely influenced my creativity because I have my aunties with different body types so I think subconsciously I saw that and I liked how, not like a one size fits all kind of thing. I want to create something that actually like honors a person’s own expressions. So that definitely influenced it as well as colors too. I like to work with bright colors and like luxurious, like flashy fabric. I like it to be bold and expressive.
Her Agenda: Are there any unexpected lessons you would say while you’ve been building your brand?
Zoba Martin: You can always work with what you have. Honestly, you just operate from a point of, I have what I have, work with what you have and what you’ve been given. You can create something. You don’t have to wait till you get this big amount, like whatever you have, you can make it work and then do a lot with that. And then more will come. That’s what I’ve learned so far. So just put in the same efforts you would when you’re starting from the beginning and then it would manifest when you have more.
Her Agenda: Now I feel like you’ve done so much already. Do you have a pinch me moment? That was like a highlight of your career so far?
Zoba Martin: The first time I worked on a Drake music video, that was such a pinch me moment. I had just gotten back from Nigeria and I just took a week cause winter here in Canada is very brutal. I just said, I’m going to go to Nigeria for three months and I I’m not going to be [in Canada] for the winter. So I went to Nigeria. [Then I] I took a two week program in Ghana. It was intense. Like I was away from my family. I was pretty homesick. I [was] ready to go home.
So I was just learning like advanced couture and advanced fashion. I came back to Canada and with all this new knowledge and I was ready to put it in my work. I got a call to work on the“Wait For You” music video. I didn’t know what it was. I just got a call to work on a music video. So it turns out that the thing I worked on, on sets was literally what I had just learned in the fashion school. So that was like a, wow pinch me moment for sure. I feel like that kind of helps expose me as a designer and expose my brand.
Her Agenda: We, we cannot skip over this! That is a big life moment that you were able to work with Drake and work on his music video. What was that like?
Zoba Martin: It’s great working with him. He’s kind and I just feel like he allows me to express myself as a creative. He has all these big ideas and we work on it together.
Her Agenda: What do you hope Zoba Martin, your brand, inspires for the next generation of Black creators and designers?
Zoba Martin: I’m happy I’m able to do this. I’m happy I’m able to do something that I love and I hope it inspires someone to do the same. I hope inspires designers to focus on sustainable fashion. Being a designer is one thing, but being a designer that is contributing positively to the industry as opposed to just finding exploitative ways to get bigger, that’s big for me. I just hope that when [designers] get big, [they think about how] you have to make sure your employees are compensated fairly and then you have to make sure your process is ethical. When I go to Nigeria and I collaborate with the locals there, like my people, it’s important to also make sure that they’re fairly compensated. And if you can, in a way, extend resources to them as well, instead of just being part of the problem that wants to exploit and wants to pay cheap labor and all of that.
Her Agenda: How do you feel like you balance the role of being the designer, the leader, the entrepreneur, like you’re wearing so many different hats. How do you feel like you balance all that?
Zoba Martin: I balance it with little things I do in my life, like getting enough sleep, working out and going for walks, honestly, just like tiny, eating healthy, drinking juices. I don’t have extravagant things that I do that makes me feel zen. It’s literally like the simpler daily things. When I wake up and I feel like sleeping a little bit longer, I’ll just do that because I can stay later at night. Get some sunlight, make sure my food is clean and things like that. Those are the things that help me balance my life. Like having plants around the house.
Her Agenda: What do you feel like is next for you and for Zoba Martin? Do you have any exciting launches or shifts on the horizon or what are you kind of exploring next?
Zoba Martin: I’m exploring, like creating more ready to wear pieces, like having a store where people can just walk in and buy Zoba Martin stuff. That’s definitely what my mind is going for the next steps. And just having a walk-in store in Toronto and exploring markets outside of Canada as well.
Her Agenda: How would you describe the Zoba Martin woman and how do you want her to feel when she’s wearing your designs?
Zoba Martin: I want her to feel creative. I want her to feel like the outfit she’s wearing is an expression of her own personality. I want her to also wear with pride. I don’t want her to be like, “Oh, I have to wear this in black. Oh, I have to wear this in the tone. I don’t want to outshine the set of it.” I want her to just stand out and be confident in whatever piece she’s wearing and just do it. Just confidence and shine. That’s what I want the Zoba Martin woman to be.
Her Agenda: Do you have a dream person? Cause you know, a lot of the girls are engaged and they’re getting married pretty soon. Do you have a dream person that you would love to design for?
Zoba Martin: I want to design for, I want Issa Rae. I want Lupita. There’s a dress I made. I’m like, I made this dress for Lupita. I mean like, I make bridal dresses, but like it’s only like weddings. So a dream person, off the top of my head is Issa Rae.
