Martine's Dream
“Sometimes people will say, ‘You’re a businesswoman,’” begins Debbie Hardy, owner of the Crown Heights boutique Martine’s Dream. “But, with that term, it feels like business comes before woman. I’m a woman first.”
Having designed and sold her line of fluid frocks in electric hues and opulent prints for 12 years (running her always-bustling shop for nearly five), Hardy certainly has the credentials of a shrewd style maven. But Hardy the woman — an island bohemian type who reflexively makes you smile and want to live more free — is even more commanding than her considerable achievements.
“This was never something where I wrote a business plan, or even had the notion to open a shop,” says the Kingston, Jamaica native, who sold her designs at markets like Dance Africa and Brooklyn Flea for years before launching a brick-and-mortar location. “I don’t look at trends. I don’t follow seasons. I always just go with the feeling and what my spirit tells me.”
Martine’s Dream is a high-ceilinged space bursting with Hardy’s original designs and unique finds: easy-to-wear dresses, kimonos, caftans, jumpers, tunics, trousers and scarves, as well as brass jewelry, handbags, woven baskets, throw pillows and journals, all intermixed among potted ferns and vines. But Hardy initially didn’t want a physical shop. With a number of unsatisfying nine-to-fives under her belt (video store manager, receptionist, merchandising director for a hat company), she was content showing her collections at markets and festivals in between her frequent travels. “I’m naturally nomadic and want to be barefoot most of the time,” she says with a laugh.
“I don’t look at trends. I don’t follow seasons. I always just go with the feeling and what my spirit tells me.”
Yet upon seeing the former storefront church at the suggestion of a realtor friend, telltale signs spoke to her: a leafy tree just outside the window and the circular foundry mark on the sidewalk, which matched the circle tattooed on her back. “Tears came to my eyes, and I was like, ‘This is my shop.’”
The name Martine’s Dream comes from Hardy’s middle name + her childhood dreams of traveling the world. The vibrant fabrics and patterns that embody her designs are handpicked from her real-life travels to countries such as India, Nepal, Cambodia, Kenya, Tanzania and Guatemala. Yet when asked to name her biggest inspirations, the island gyal (who moved to BK at age 16) names the sun and the creative spirit of Brooklyn.
“I do sun clothes 365 days a year,” she says of pieces like the airy, backless Nikki Dress and her versatile Glo Kimono. “There's always movement and freedom in the clothes. I call it the rhythm of Brooklyn because of the self-expression that each individual brings.”
681 Nostrand Avenue, 347-750-7668, martinesdream.com
