soul pancake shareen

Shareen Vintage Presented by SoulPancake

Shareen Mitchell
Shareen Mitchell

Shareen recently had the honor of being profiled by SoulPancake, a website and YouTube channel that presents content to “open your mind, challenge your friends, and feel damn good.” Watch the video for an intimate conversation with Shareen about fashion, women, and her personal journey. For highlights, read below.

On Fashion…

Fashion works this way, in a sea of black dresses, one girls arrives in pink, and every man and every woman will notice her and say, ‘Wow, pink.’ And the women will think, “I want a pink dress.” And then something has changed in fashion.

Glamour is charisma translated through clothing. It has in it flirtation, magic, mystery. When a woman chooses or is willing to be glamorous, she is lifting up above reality a little.

On Women…

Women who shop my store want to stand out. It’s their intention… And the fact is, this very thing about them is an indication of their future success because to be an individual means that no one can compete with you. You become without rival.

When I’m dressing them, it’s intimate. And I’ll ask them a lot about themselves, and their body, and about their feelings, and about what they do for a living. It’s always rewarding when somebody comes here and feels a sense of discomfort in their body and I’m able to go like, “Oh! Here, come here, I’ve got you.”

I had a young woman who was about six feet tall with like a 44 inch back. She hadn’t worn a dress, if ever, and was going home to see her family after eight years. She wanted to wear a dress and she wanted to look beautiful. And she did.

I always say the difference between my full body girls and my slimmer body girls is a full body girl just needs to discover just exactly how dangerous she is. So we say here, she’s got “dangerous curves.” I think that women undervalue their fullness. I mean, even the fullness of their spirits. Women don’t know how potent, powerful, and beautiful they are. No matter what they look like, no matter what size they are.

On Shareen Vintage…

I’m not particularly interested in vintage as a means of expressing the past, but as a way of experiencing the present and the future of fashion.

What I love about vintage is that it permits you to really, literally, dress like no one else. Your body is your billboard. It’s the only piece of real estate you own your whole life, and it’s where you can do whatever you want.

On SHAREEN, the line…

Dresses are a work of art. You know, they are. It’s a subtle combination of many things. Cut, shaping and texture, and color. So many elements.

When I started the business, I certainly would have never called myself a designer. I knew that I had good taste, and I knew that I could dress women. So I started 9 years ago, re-designing existing garments. And I would say that I began to also develop an education at that time as it related to construction and how fabrics respond.

I have so much exposure. I see a thousand beautiful garments a week, but I also have women. I’ll put a dress on them and I’ll ask, “Does it come to life? Does it excite them? Am I excited?”

I began to learn, “What makes a good fit, what are those elements?” So I began to go, “Okay, so I’ll take that dress, and I’m going to drop the neckline a little, I’m going to shorten the sleeve.”  All these little things I do to make the garment relatable, which is what we call, “re-working. I morph dresses that existed into better dresses. And that’s how I learned to design.

My line is all about enchantment, femininity. I like things that have fluidity, movement, flutter, grace.

When I create clothing, it’s because I love women and I want to make them feel a sense of magic, or a poetry about themselves. I want them to experience their own sense of beauty. I like them to turn every head in the room. I like them to stand out, and leave here feeling beautiful and empowered, and I think that’s really what I do.

To learn more about Shareen, visit us. We look forward to celebrating you. To see and experience Shareen’s designs now, visit our online shop.