Belinda Heiman/The LanternThe Black Market boutique on High Street specializes in vintage and designer clothing by “Project Runway” contestant Kelli Martin.The Black Market clothing boutique, located at 2579 N. High St., is a combination of vintage and designer clothing with the typical price falling between $28 and $48, while Martin’s personal clothing line, anti.label , combines higher and more reasonable pieces.
“It’s kind of the store I guess I always wanted when I was younger and there never was,” Martin said. “I wanted it to be a very comfortable yet classy atmosphere. I didn’t want it to be pretentious and jerky.”
Martin, who graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in California with an advanced design degree, draws on a combination of inspirations when designing for her clothing line.
“I’m really influenced a lot by street style. I draw a lot of inspiration from music and I really like to people watch. I feel like that’s one of the best forms of inspirations to me,” she said.
Martin also has an eclectic group of designer influences including Betsey Johnson, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, she said.
“I really pull from a little bit of everything. I like classic looks but with a definite twist. It’s wearable, but it’s not a costume,” Martin said.
While her personal style is mostly vintage inspired, she admits she has been busy these days and she barely has the time to throw on anything other than a pair of jeans and a band T-shirt.
“You always wonder why these designers come out in white T-shirts and jeans and they make the most beautiful clothes, and now I know why. It’s because you’re sitting back between seven sewing machines and you’re trying to sew, cut and pin. It’s hard to look the part,” she said.
Martin’s dream to become a designer started as a young girl and she credits her grandmother with nurturing that dream throughout her life.
“I wanted to be a designer as long as I can remember. When I was a little kid, my grandma raised me for the most part and she would let me wear whatever I wanted. She would let me dress up, paint my nails, put on makeup and wear her clothes. Being allowed to dress however you wanted was a big part of it,” Martin said.That same fashion freedom allowed Martin to experiment with a more unconventional style throughout high school.
“I looked crazy when I was in high school but I was just having fun. It was before the Hot Topics and Marilyn Mansons of the day. People thought I was a lunatic. But both of my grandmas just always let me be and never judged me for anything that I wore or anything I did because I was always a good child, I just looked funny,” she said.
Even as an adolescent, her dream of being a designer never diminished completely.
“I was a little bit wild but fashion was always the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “I knew I had to do basically what I wanted to do to get it out of my system so it wouldn’t become a lifestyle when I was 25. So I traveled and followed bands and basically did what I wanted.”
It was not until one morning when she was 19 years old that she woke with the realization that it was time to attend college.”I had an epiphany,” Martin said.
Her epiphany not only led her to the opening of Black Market, but also to her audition for Bravo’s season five “Project Runway”.
“It was kind of on a whim. I found out about the audition in Chicago and they were in like a week. I went up there not anticipating anything. I kept making it through the rounds and it just took off,” she said.
Martin said she enjoyed her experience on “Project Runway” and it showed her that there is no limit to the things she can accomplish.
“I basically proved to myself that I could do anything that I want. Over the course of my life anything I actually, truly have to do, it happens. I can do anything I put my mind to,” she said.
Martin’s aspirations are far from fulfilled.
She said she has plans to expand her store, have a steady season-to-season line and offer more clothes on her Web site. She said she would love to do a little bit of everything from screen print to men’s and children’s wear.
“I feel like it’s just the beginning,” Martin said.
Photo courtesy of Kelli MartinMegan Laney can be reached at [email protected].
