Island Roots: Fashion stylist Sammy Salsa on life and having to grow up quickly

Sammy Salsa, real name Sam Cowley-Lupo, works in the fashion world as a stylist. Photo / Supplied

He is one of Aotearoa’s most sought-after fashion and celebrity stylists - with his work earning him top accolades and featuring in the pages of fashion magazines.

And it all started in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill.

Sammy Salsa - real name Sam Cowley-Lupo is a trailblazer who has made his mark as a Polynesian man in a palagi-dominated industry.

He sat down with Island Roots: Auckland Ways podcast hosts Mariner Fagaiava and Allyssa Verner-Pula to share how his childhood shaped him.

Growing up in Mt Roskill is a far cry from the glamourous world of fashion and he remembers having to grow up quickly.

“I got my first job at 14 years old to help support my mum. We had so many obstacles that really stopped us from flourishing as a family.”

Taking on those adult responsibilities was made harder by challenges in his personal life; such as grappling with his sexuality and identity.

“It was a hard time for all of us,” he says.

“There was so much pressure to help and support the family.”

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Sammy is emotional when speaking about his siblings. He credits them for being the inspiration throughout his career.

“They never had a voice growing up and everything I do now is to give them a voice - not just as Sammy, but as their older brother.”

Sammy, who has roots in Niue and Samoa, said he resented being Pasifika as a young person.

“I felt like I wasn’t getting the same opportunities, growing up poor. I’d question - why don’t we have shoes?

“I spent a lot of my youth hating myself.”

Styling The Panthers

The Panthers tells the story of the uprising among Polynesians during the 1970s Dawn Raids in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied

Throughout his career, Sammy has found a way to take the pain of his childhood and turn it into something beautiful.

Last year he won the award for Best Costume Design at the New Zealand Television Awards for his work on The Panthers - a mini television series looking at the Auckland-based Polynesian Panthers of the 1970s.

“My family are originally from Grey Lynn, so my grandparents went through the Dawn Raids. When I was putting together the male characters for [The Panthers], I used my dad as a reference point.”

His father joined the King Cobras gang shortly after he arrived in New Zealand as a teenager.

The gang was initially started by Samoan immigrants in Ponsonby, in the 1950s, where many Polynesian communities were starting to settle after arriving from overseas.

Sammy believes his father found a brotherhood in gang life.

“It was where he found his belonging, because he didn’t understand where he fit. He latched onto people that looked like him.”

Now as an adult, Sammy says he has a deep understanding of himself.

“Non-Pacific people categorise me as Sammy Salsa, the Pacific stylist. But I’m not the Pacific stylist. I’m Sammy Salsa the stylist - period.”