BODY CONFIDENT : SHANICE VITALIS
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| Shanice Vitalis Shot by Terrance, Wearing Afrodisiac Boutique, Make-Up by Lynda DLM shot at the Kerby Young Studio |
Written by Anastasia Tomkin
Shanice Vitalis has a
deliciously stalkable page on the Insta. And I don’t mean for the guys. Ladies
of all ages, shapes and sizes will swoon over her sizzling swimwear collection.
A lot of folks might come for the views, not even realising that behind the
dougla-in-paradise motif is a hard-working, risk-taking businesswoman.
As Shanice reveals that
she handles every nitty-gritty aspect of Monochrome Swimwear, from the
administration, to the social media management, to making the tricky decision
to model the pieces herself, I interject with a compliment.
“Well you lucky you had
the body for it, could model your own stuff and make it look hot!”
“I mean, I would have
done it with whatever body I had!” Shan clarified gently.
I had unwittingly struck
on a value central to Shan’s retail philosophy - that women of all body types
can wear whatever the **** they want (my words).
She passionately
explained that society really needs to stop policing women’s bodies, trying to
dictate their sexuality, and determining that certain women can’t wear certain
things.
She recalls one customer
falling in love with a sexy bikini, but not finding herself “skinny enough” to
pull it off.
“I told her “You don’t
have to be skinny to wear it!” People feel like you have to be a certain size
to wear swimsuits, or a certain cut of swimsuit and I’m like you can literally
do whatever you want.”
Helping ladies to get
wet and wild was a whole new wave for Ms. Vitalis. She holds a degree in
Graphic Designing and secured a job in her field, working full-time at NALIS in
Port of Spain.Then one day, a friend who was opening up a business suggested
that she try her hand at selling something.
“I legit sat on my bed
and looked around. And I saw, I have this huge drawer of swimsuits,and I was
like, “I does rel wear swimsuits!” I had like over 50 pieces,and I felt like
that was something I could probably get into, something I’m comfortable with,
something that I know really well. So I decided, well ok! I’m just gonna sell
swimsuits.”
This impulsive move
turned into Monochrome Swimwear. She was able to import merchandise
through her friend’s business, and the side hustle began to blossom. Now, she
is able to dedicate most of her time to Monochrome.
“I just knew I needed to
find another way to make a living, I couldn’t work for someone the rest of my
life, it just didn’t fit my personality.”
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| Shanice Vitalis Shot by Terrance, Wearing Afrodisiac Boutique, Make-Up by Lynda DLM shot at the Kerby Young Studio |
Shan gushes over her
family and friends’ relentless support of her business. Apart from offering
loving encouragement in times of distress, they even help out with the
day-to-day operations whenever necessary, from making deliveries to modeling.
“They have more faith in
me than I have in myself,” she says.
And when it comes to
aesthetic goals for her brand, Balmain, and Olivier Rousteing especially,
represent the ideal. She believes that Balmain empowers women through clothing;
showing that women are warriors, that they are strong and powerful. Shan found
her own inner strength when she finally decided to model her own pieces.
Growing up, she was taught to be quite conservative and wary of her online
image. So initially, she feared that people seeing her in swimsuits on social
media might judge her and assume that she was doin’ it for the likes...But as
her brand evolved, so did her confidence, and eventually she no longer cared
for the opinions of others.
“My personal IG is a
reflection of Monochrome, mostly pictures of me in a swimsuit, because I
want to show people that it’s okay to be in a swimsuit and to be an
entrepreneur or a businesswoman, and get RESPECT... I don’t need to wear a suit
to get respect.”
Her advice to others is
straightforward: Expect the unexpected at all times, know that your passion
takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but that it will be worth it in the
end.
When all's said and
done, Shanice’s law of power is no surprise:
Self-love and power go
hand-in-hand.
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| From L to R : Renaldo Frederick, Chanel Glasgow, Anderson Delysia, Shanice Vitalis & Lynda De La Mothe |
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