SAINT International star Barbra-Lee Grant continues to make waves in the fashion industry with her fiercely fabulous turn in the new lookbook for the New York-based womenswear label Tibi.

The stunning Jamaican model, who currently resident in Brooklyn, cuts quite the glamourous presence in visuals for Tibi’s Fall/Winter 2020 collection, styled by Dione Davis and ‘lensed’ by Reed Young at scenic locations in Port Chester, New York, and Greenwich, Connecticut. The collection comprises knits, occasion dresses and modern feminine suiting.

“Shooting with Tibi was refreshing in terms of the energy and executing their vision,” Grant shared with The Gleaner on her break from an editorial shoot for an upcoming project. “I also got to explore Connecticut, where we shot. The team was super great and the mood on set was mad fun, as we were all free to be ourselves” she adds. “Reed is a very precise photographer and I love that he’s humble and hilarious.”

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Regarded as one of the Big Apple’s hippest labels by fashion insiders, Tibi was founded 20 years ago by its creative director Amy Slimovic, who traded in her marketing and advertising exec career to start her womenswear line. Slimovic recently told the British edition of Harper’s Bazaar that she was seeking to fill a niche which she identified at the time. “I started in 1997, so there was a huge gap in the market. You either had luxury designer brands, affordable stores like Banana Republic or The Gap, or you had bridge collections. There was nothing targeted to an individual who wanted to dress in a way that was young in spirit but with the sophistication of designer,” she explained.

Initially scouted by SAINT as a teenager while attending Cumberland High School in Portmore, Grant got her international break as an exclusive for the prestigious Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter runway collection in 2016 in London. This was a specially crafted global introduction strategy by Saint CEO Deiwght Peters and Storm Models in London. Subsequently, she would go on to land a worldwide advertising campaign for Balenciaga, shoot for multiple editions of Vogue, and dominate fashion capital runways for Badgley Mischka Christian Siriano, Kate Spade, Emilio Pucci, Rick Owens, Michael Kors, Thom Browne and a host of others. Proud of her humble beginnings, Grant, who hails from Central Village, shared her story with the world in a New York Times article in 2017 featuring the achievements of SAINT International.

With the COVID-affected summer 2020 mostly spent indoors at her Brooklyn home, Grant told The Gleaner she is cautiously optimistic about the new normal in the fashion industry. “I’m proud and honoured to be a member of the global industry,” she says. “I know we’ll now have to adapt to changes in how we operate in the business to protect everyone, and though it’s been a challenge, I’ve been making the mental adjustments.”