When I first started out in fashion, my goals were a lot different to what they are now. You grow up and get a (fashion) reality check.

I’m Sammy Salsa and I’m a Fashion Stylist, Creative Director and Award Winning Costume Designer who has contributed to the fashion landscape locally here in Aotearoa and Internationally for over 10 years – through editorial, runway, campaigns, celebrities, film and television. I was born and raised in Mount Roskill to Samoan immigrant parents.

My first memory of fashion and what made me want to pursue it were my parents. Watching them and how they fused their own Pacific fashion identity within the footprint of the New Zealand fashion scene during the 1980s/1990s really fascinated me, and being exposed to their culture of fashion within their community really resonated with me as a child and has stuck with me throughout my adult years and into my career. For me fashion is more than just clothes there’s always a story behind it. Fashion Stylist’s get to create narratives, build characters and build a world around clothing, it’s more than just dressing models, celebrities or actors – we’re storytellers.

Of course everyone’s dream was to be an editor at Vogue – that didn’t last long for me because I found out in the early stages that I actually hate writing lol and found my strengths in styling and creative direction.

One other goal that was important to me earlier on in my career that is just as important to me today as a creative was I wanted whoever was flicking through a magazine, watching a music video, a tv show or film to recognise my work. I want people to look at my craft and have conversations about it (good and bad), dissect it, feel inspired by it, feel some sort of emotion from it because that’s the power of fashion. And the importance of our roles within the industry, we have the ability to change how people think, how people live, and to me that’s real influence.

Check out Sammy on Instagram

The FNZ Creators Power List 2023 was brought to life with the support of Powerhouse