Born in Nigeria and raised in the UK, Obi has spent most of her adult life in the Cayman Islands. A trained accountant, she worked in finance before becoming a designer and launching the fashion and accessories brand, Isy B. Given her family background, this wasn’t an unusual career move.

“I come from a powerful lineage of creative women,” she says. “My mother was a fashion designer and a PhD scientist, inheriting her love of design from her mother. I first learned to design clothes for my dolls, then for myself and other women underneath the cutting table in her studio.”

THE BRAND

It’s no surprise Isy B., a brand born in the Cayman Islands, has found its sweet spot in creating elegant, vibrant resort fashion and lifestyle accessories for stylish women who march to the beat of their own drum.

Since its launch in 2015, the brand has garnered an impressive list of successes, locally and internationally including ‘Lifestyle Designer of the Year’ at Phoenix Fashion Week in the USA and ‘Excellence in Fashion Innovation’ from Caribbean Style and Culture. In 2019, Isy B. was honoured to receive the prestigious ‘Bronze Star for Creativity’ from the Cayman Islands National Arts and Culture Committee, and her work forms part of the National Gallery’s permanent collection.

Isy B. is also the first Caribbean fashion brand to create and launch a fashion collection for one of the largest home-shopping networks in the USA and has shown on runways and red carpets at some of the most glamorous events in the world.

The designer is passionate about her work and cares deeply about the women she dresses. “Each Isy B. piece is designed with love and crafted from the best materials I can find. I’m blessed to work with a talented team who share my vision and get just as excited as I do about the collections,” she enthuses.

THE JOURNEY

The COVID-19 pandemic left Isy B. unable to produce or sell its collections for more than a year, but Obi recognises this time as having been a gift for the brand in some ways.

“One of the things I realised during this downtime was that in all the excitement of growing Isy B. in its first five years to fit into the mould of what an international fashion brand should be, I’d lost sight of the aspect of the work I loved the most, which is allowing myself to experiment and have fun with what I created,” she reflects.

There was a moment when she considered letting the brand go, but the creative muse refused to be silenced. Finding herself daydreaming about new collections, she realised it was time for reinvention.

THE NEW COLLECTIONS

She pondered how to bring aspects of her African heritage and Caribbean culture into her designs. “Storytelling was a huge part of my childhood. My grandfather was one of the pioneering African writers of the 1960s, and I also love to write and tell stories. In African culture, folktales are a means of entertainment but also a way to teach and provide a different perspective of the world, so I’ve always been interested in exploring the ways in which the African and Caribbean cultures meet.”

Her research led her to the Cayman National Cultural Foundation, where she encountered Caymanian folktales, including the writings of acclaimed Caymanian storyteller Nasaria Suckoo-Chollette, with whom she connected. “We collaborated, adapting her Caymanian folktales to imbue them with the voice and rhythms of my African childhood.”

The reimagined folktales became the inspiration for the new prints and patterns for her Storyteller Collections, which, she says, felt richer and more personal than anything she had done before.

The designer also explored ways of offering a more profound sensory experience of the collections. “Stories are meant to be told and heard, and I wanted to find a way for people to engage with these wonderful stories wherever they encountered Isy B.” She found the answer through local creative Stephan Cottrell, founder of Keep Kreative, an award-winning sound production studio based in George Town. In an innovative collaboration with Cottrell and Suckoo-Chollette, Obi created narrated audio stories to accompany the designs via QR codes on the hangtags, enabling customers to listen to the folktales that inspired the designs.

THE DIFFERENCE

“My journey with Isy B. has taught me the value of being true to who I am, trusting myself and allowing myself to create. It feels as though the brand and I have matured together as we’ve figured out who we are.”

In a world where fashion brands are pushed to conform to prevailing trends, Obi ensures her brand stays true to its values in both viewpoint and design aesthetic. “At its heart, the brand is a blend of cultural inspirations – of fashion, storytelling and art. It reflects my influences and brings together the things I love: creativity, spirituality and encouraging women to express their amazing selves. This is reflected in the vibrant colours and bold patterns inspired by its Cayman Islands roots and underpinned by the positive messages in its stories.”

One of the most refreshing characteristics of the brand is that it celebrates and encourages individuality. That is what makes it unique, and it is what has been key to its success.

THE FUTURE

It takes almost a year to develop a new collection, from initial vision and sketches through sampling and production. Although a huge effort, the designer is proud of what the brand has achieved and December 2022 will see the launch of two new print stories, one of which is based in North Side. The identifiably Caymanian design elements will be woven with fantastical themes from the designer’s rich imagination.

“We plan to continue our expansion in partnership with other brands, and I’ve just finished working on a series of Isy B. print journals that will be launched for sale on Amazon in 2023. I enjoy connecting with the amazing women who love the brand through the Isy B. blog and also plan to have a lot more fun interacting with our customers (who have always been my inspiration) with more special events and pop-ups planned, so watch this space.”