Niche Internet Microcelebrity Spotlight: Sam's Tailor

Screen Name: @samstailor

Real Name: Roshan Melwani

Occupation: Tailor

Reason for Fame: Melwani, otherwise known as the TikTok tailor, offers a trade off to his clients. He will give you the fit of a lifetime, for the small price of being violently humbled on social media (and however many thousands of dollars it costs for him to make you a suit). This British-Indian, Hong Kong-based professional has developed a loyal following for his calculatedly deranged rundowns of various customers and the clothing he has made for them.

Most of his videos follow a well-trodden formula. A startled looking man (or occasionally, woman) in one of his suits will stand there as he gesticulates at at the details of their outfit, which is always "stacked" with his "signature details". He garnishes this performance with a few bizarre descriptions of the client themselves, which usually revolve around their nationality and insulting them in the most flamboyant way possible.

His quirky and appearance-obsessed TikTok presence has earned him comparisons to Jeremy Fragrance, another king of inappropriate self-promotion on social media. Melwani isn't about to tell his life story, though. He's here for the threads and the putdowns alone.

Notable Moments: This is a man who knows exactly how to make a memorable, viral TikTok sound without making it seem forced. The most famous of these is his proclamation that "little white men from England scurry to me like rats", a sentence begging to be taken out of context and repurposed for a few thousand easy likes. Another well-known, but less versatile line is "I'm going to eat this little Chinese boy". 'Little' is probably one of his favorite adjectives for his customers. Many of his weirdest and most out of pocket introductions are made into mashups that can be heavy viewing.

Memeability Level: 6/10. His meme-related success is a little too dependent on the lowest common denominator of contemporary memes, the TikTok lip sync. That said, there is no denying that this is a professional with a truly compelling turn of phrase to match his interesting tailoring.

Posted by Ally Perry