Tania Martins lets her Pink Cobra charm Toronto’s coolest girls

Like any hard-working Torontonian, Martins is vulnerable—we assume to smog, apathy and the northwest corner of Queen and Bathurst—and she puts that into her designs, inspired by a series of contradictions: fragile yet fearless, feminine yet masculine and provocative yet discreet. Pink Cobra’s fall/winter 2011 collection is what really got us talking, because, well, it’s just sexy. Yes, a woman can wear a top with braided arms, pair a pleated skirt with a navel-baring top, and even wear the most fitted black dress that shows off every last body curve (well, if she’s comfortable with it).

Pink Cobra has no real style boundaries, and the woman who wears it shouldn’t either. It’s the collection’s unfettered sexuality and international resonance (Martins has a mass of private clients in London) that made us think other designers need to shape up or be damned forever, making matronly clothes for ladies who lunch (truly a noble profession, but it isn’t a game changer). There are other, lesser cobras in the world, but we’re happy ours is pink.

Hot List, our compendium of Toronto stylemakers to watch, appears regularly on The Goods. See the full collection as we check in with more of Toronto’s hottest.