Sammy B S/S 2022: Small but we Tallawah

The Spring/Summer 2022 collection from Jamaican-American designer and Project Runway alumna Samantha Black, better known as Sammy B, is dubbed Small but we Tallawah, which is a take off the Jamaican saying “likkle but wi tallawah” and highlights the designer’s love for The Rock and what it’s like to be an uber-stylish woman in the City of Dreams.

Roused by both locations, the Jamaican inspiration represents “pride, originality, the vibrancy and, most of all, it’s the place my parents were born and grew up,” says Black as she adds that the New York aspect embodies, “the energy, the freedom and is a melting pot of people, culture and experiences”.

The stimulus for the collection began when Jamaica’s borders reopened during the pandemic in 2020, and she was able to visit the parish of Portland, her great-grandmother’s birthplace. Black soaked up the sea breeze and was able to unwind and started designing pieces that she felt hot girls would appreciate, and, having dressed Beyoncé before, it’s fair to say she knows what a hot girl likes. Think sensual, laid-back and uninhibited. She then merged those facets with what a New Yorker would wear, and the magic happened, mixing the love for her culture and where she lives with ease.

Has Sammy B always been into fashion, “Yes. My parents, grandmother, aunts and uncles were always into dressing and being presentable.” But has the pandemic changed people’s fashion choices? For that, Black says, “I don’t think it’s changed it at all; if anything, people aren’t saving their ‘good clothes’ for special occasions but wearing them for whatever.”