Leaves, schmeaves. The real beauty of autumn lies in the fresh batch of films, books, plays and restaurants that dot the horizon. Here, the first round of this season’s artists and influencers.

ZARA MARTIN

Zara Martin is a jack-of-all-trades. The 27-year-old Anglo-Indian is a model, TV presenter (she fronted the U.K. launch of Al Gore’s Current TV cable network in 2007) and graduate of University College London, where she earned a degree in economics and business with Eastern European Studies. Now Martin has added another line to her résumé: fashion designer, with a capsule collection for London-based ready-to-wear brand BodyAmr (a favorite among celebs such as Beyoncé and Kylie Minogue).

Called BodyAmr & Zara Martin, the seven-piece line of party frocks (“one for every day of the week”), made its debut during London Fashion Week. “This will be a more attainable ‘cocktail’ range than the BodyAmr mainline collection,” said Martin of the collaboration’s price points, which start from around 500 pounds, or $781 at current exchange. In addition to the capsule collection, Martin teamed up with the brand to design an elephant sculpture for London’s Elephant Parade art fair in May, a city-wide festival of 250 life-size elephant sculptures aimed at raising awareness of the endangered Asian elephants.

With her exotic looks, long mane and willowy silhouette, Martin has held numerous modeling jobs, including parts in look books for designer Olivia Rubin and Mechante of London shoes. Martin has also just been shot for an in-store advertisement for Swarovski Elements.

She also keeps carving out a successful TV career. Martin has hosted “The Lick With Trevor Nelson,” an MTV U.K. talk show about the worlds of hip-hop and R&B, and will soon begin filming a fashion TV show pilot (due to be released next year) in L.A. for a yet-to-be-revealed U.S. network.

As if she didn’t wear enough hats already, the multitalented Martin writes for the online magazine Art Wednesdays, too, and about exhibitions and new artists on her blog, zaramartin/blogspot.com.

— Natasha Montrose