It was already sunny in Cherry Creek, a posh shopping district just south of downtown Denver. Seeing Fresh Sam sitting alone in the shade outside a coffee shop made the day even brighter. It’s not just the fact that she was wearing bold yellow rectangular sunglasses, but the designer’s gentle, kind personality makes you instantly feel the warmth of a friend.
The theme for Fresh Sam’s latest collection with her brand, INFATUÉ, is “Be The Light.” She debuted it at her first Denver Fashion Week show this spring. The Denver native was previously invited to the showcase multiple times, but couldn’t make it “for a lot of reasons.” “Be The Light” drew references from European cathedrals, paid tribute to her grandmother and delivered a call to action.
“I don’t like to ever create a piece of clothing, collection, anything without a purpose,” Fresh Sam told Kick The Concrete. “... This year, when they invited me, I was like, you know what, I think I have a lot to say and the only way to say it is through this clothing and through this collection.”
The designer, born Samantha Aragon, started INFATUÉ in 2012 to share her personal love for fashion with an emphasis on sustainability and inspiring others. She’s built the company through custom jackets and sporty collections that include jerseys, joggers and oversized pieces that harken back to ‘90s hip-hop. There are touches of luxury via gemstone accents or gold embroidery. The INFATUÉ website says the company has saved half a million gallons of water because of its recycled designs.
She’s traveled back and forth between Denver and Los Angeles for the past eight years and last year, styled legendary hip-hop group The Pharcyde for their tour. She’s made custom pieces for several artists such as Ashanti and Smino and worked with brands including Netflix and Under Armour.
Since the coffee shop in Cherry Creek was packed inside and it was too hot to sit outside, we decided to go across the street to Hapa Sushi. It’s where Fresh Sam likes to get her cheat meal, the Multiple Orgasm Roll – sweet yet spicy with cream cheese and smoked salmon. She brought her own bottle of spring water because, she explained, purified water has no nutrients. She leads by example and is eager to encourage others to be their best selves. But she doesn’t come across as preachy or self-righteous.
That mentality carried over into the Denver Fashion Week show.
“It was my way of talking about hard things, but showing there’s a solution for it all and empowering the people, ‘be the light,’” Sam said. “You have a responsibility now to be the light. We’re not just putting on a show for you to see. We’re also giving you kind of like an accountability thing now. We wanted to really impact through every way possible. So once the initial collection idea was thought of, ‘Be The Light,’ we just started.”
Part of what Sam and her team started for the streetwear showcase was 12 looks consisting of hand-painted leather pieces, structured denim sets and a blazer draped with pearls. There were several printed pieces meant to evoke the majesty of stained glass windows that captivated Fresh Sam while traveling to Germany and Spain.
“The intricacy was incredible,” she said, “the way that light was able to shine through the darkness of the cathedral using the stained glass was just beautiful.”
While cathedrals are Catholic houses of worship, Sam is careful to note that her collection doesn’t represent the confines of legalistic religion.
“When I think about God, I might see God a little differently than others,” she said. “So I didn’t want to focus it on religion, ‘cause that’s not what it was about. It was about love and what I think is at the root of supposed to be at religion. So just taking a different approach of what that center place could be and in my opinion should be, love. Love and light. Not like all the politics and all the other stuff that just makes it gray, you know?”
One of the pieces is her own spin on the divisive red “MAGA” hat. She replaced the words with “Make America Care Again” and set it over a lace veil. She explained on Instagram why she came up with the phrasing. Growing up, her parents fostered kids and that experience shaped her perspective on world issues today.
“What I got to witness is my parents C A R E for these kids, and shower them with love,” she said in her post. “Over the many years my parents did foster care I saw so many different kids of all ethnic backgrounds and soo many situations, very different from mine. None of that changed how my family and I loved and C A R E D for them. It reminded me that at the root of all problems I think CARING is the start of the cure. So I did the only thing I know how to and I used my art to spread the message on my heart.”
INFATUÉ’s “Be The Light” show was much more than clothes. Fresh Sam enlisted a cellist to open the show before a soundtrack of Common’s “Go!” blended into “The Light” by David Sabastian. There was a custom backdrop of soothing nature scenes with words spelling out the theme. Sam connected with a local choreographer to create movement for the models to further relay the collection’s message.
“I always want to include as many of our senses as possible,” Sam said. “... A lot of times, you just see models walk down the runway and it’s cool, but I thought we could bring it in a different way and make people feel. That was the goal – to make people feel something.”
The choreographer, Bobbie Jean, said she and Sam “instantly connected” when they met to discuss the project. They collaborated on the ideas for the dance and Bobbie Jean was one of the models that floated down the runway. It was her second time choreographing a fashion show, but this one had a special impact on her.
“(Fresh Sam) is such a great reflection on the way that I want my artistry to flow and her pieces just have so much depth to them,” she said. “It just reminds me of what I need to do for myself as an artist – to go for it. Because she’s always worked really hard on what she wants to do with her life and she’s very successful at it already. And that’s just very inspiring for someone like me who’s trying to build that name for myself.”
Bobbie Jean’s grandfather passed away a few days before the show. Being a part of such an uplifting project helped her through the difficult time.
“I was pretty in my feelings about life and all of that and I felt like I was given strength to really portray this message out into a giant crowd of people,” she said. “Being the light and trusting in God, all of it just completely resonated with me and everyone that was a part of this project. I’ve only heard so many positive things about it. I’m just grateful, just super grateful.”
“Be The Light” also helped Fresh Sam pay tribute to her own loved one. Her Nana wanted to be a fashion designer growing up, but gave up the dream when she got married at the age of 16. Fresh Sam said that her Nana was the only member of her Mexican family who understood and encouraged her creativity. One specific piece from the collection, a bright red jacket with painted flames and the words “LOVE > FEAR” written on it, came from Sam processing the loss of her biggest supporter when her Nana passed away in 2021.
“She taught me a lot of how she saw God and I loved her take on it and I loved — she was just a big inspiration in my life – so pretty much everything I do is attributed to her,” Fresh Sam reflected. “Got a lot of love forever for her. I feel like I’m on this journey like she’s not here, but I’m carrying her legacy.”
A promise Sam made to her Nana was to take her when she had a show at New York Fashion Week. Sam wanted to incorporate a recording of her Nana into INFATUÉ’s latest show, but she ran out of time “and literally energy.” Even though some hopes are left unfulfilled, she knows that her Nana would have loved the final product.
“She woulda been really proud of that collection because she’s very faith-based and to see me have the courage to combine somewhat of faith in with fashion, I think she would have been really, really, really proud,” she said.
Fresh Sam’s work is bigger than herself in many more ways. She takes pride in mentoring upcoming fashion designers and creatives. She teaches in local schools and holds private lessons. She’s also developing curriculum to publish online with a blueprint for successful businesses so that she can reach as many people as possible. Her hope is to give the next generation the resources and guidance she didn’t have.
One of the people she mentors is her assistant, Hope Mills, who is a college student at the University of Colorado Boulder. The two of them connected through a family friend two years ago and they have been working closely ever since. Mills is Sam’s right-hand person for all of her projects. She has a front row seat for how Sam gives back and infuses an aura of calm into a demanding industry.
“It’s very hard because people are stressed and every time we show up to a job, she’s just like, ‘Okay, there’s no need to be stressed. Everyone else is stressed, but let’s just take this step by step,’” Mills said. “And that’s great ‘cause I feel like as a young person working in the industry, people tend to be like very snappy, you’re just trying to get your job done. But she really cares.”
Mills said that Fresh Sam truly lives out the message of her latest collection.
“She is the light because she is the creative vision,” she said. “She’s expanding on that and she’s bringing that and spreading it to other people. She’s definitely a big light in my life.”
Besides INFATUÉ, Fresh Sam shares her love of fashion by working as a stylist. She said her own effortlessly cool sense of style developed organically, by just wearing what she wanted. She got her nickname because people called her Lil Fresh Sam growing up. She dropped the “Lil” piece within the past year to acknowledge her personal growth.
How did she have the courage to stand out in her family — and in Denver, a city known for Patagonia jackets rather than Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses?
“I got over ever wanting to be understood.”
Behind those yellow shades, Fresh Sam’s vision is to help others do the same.
“I use clothing to empower people,” she said. “... That’s the fulfillment in life that makes all the hard work and sacrifices worth it. It’s equivalent to the end of that fashion show you saw. That feeling every time. That’s when I feel like I’m in my purpose when I see people light up.”
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