Neubyrne’s Martha Gottwald takes the Dirt Cheap challenge | Entertainment/Life
Fashion designer and Baton Rouge native Martha Gottwald is larger than life in her creations and in her everyday approach.
After the over-the-top fashion designer took a four-month break from social media, many of her 224,000+ followers breathed a sigh of relief when she reappeared in early 2024.
Along with offering occasional photographic evidence of her incredible sense of style and designs, she also returned with a bit of news. Gottwald announced that Neubyrne, her primarily pink fashion line, will live on with her “art and custom designs,” but she is out of the wholesale/mass production grind.
Martha Gottwald in her new design studio in Baton Rouge.
The Neubyrne website is still active with some merchandise still available, and Gottwald is still designing — she’s just not doing the whole fashion collections, shows and production rigmarole.
As noted in the Baton Rouge Classic lunch I had with Gottwald in 2023, she is a study in contrasts. As glamorous as she is, she picked the humble Jay’s BBQ on Government Street as our lunch spot. She arrived sporting a pinker than pink ruffled top with a trucker hat.
Based on her fun spirit and what I observed as her ability to pull from all angles, I invited her on an adventure (click this link to see the video).
Martha Gottwald wears a mirrored jacket she designed at the desk in her new Baton Rouge studio.
But first, just back from a family vacation in St. Bart’s, Gottwald gave me a tour of her new studio space in Baton Rouge’s Old Goodwood area. After the tour, the two of us took an unusual fashion field trip.
We went to Dirt Cheap in Zachary.
Gottwald had never been to Zachary