Shanice Thompson ready to set her own course in fashion

While the high-fashion market remains a niche space for plus-sized models, Shanice Thompson is practical-minded.

“I’m hyper aware of all the sentiments that are around full-sized models, the positive and the negative,” declared the model aspirant signed to SAINT International of her tempered expectations.

Meeting a local designer for a casting call in Kingston months ago, Thompson’s confident strut and striking looks made her a standout among slender peers. To her shock, it ended there.

“When they checked the collection, there was nothing that could fit me, and I felt so bad,” the 23-year-old shared of the memory made anew. “All my straight-sized model friends got the opportunity to wear these amazing clothes. I was liked as much as them, but there was nothing to fit me, and it was an eye-opening experience.”

The tide has turned in Thompson’s favour.

Where there was a designer disappointment, another clothier with a customised collection featuring the voluptuous model as the star attraction comes a-courting.

That designer is Safidah womenswear brand owner Angella Wilkinson. And her holiday capsule collection – white cotton tunic tops, pencil skirts and peasant-cut dresses with hand-painted artwork of Jamaican motifs by Tobean Walters – has Thompson pleased as punch.

“Working with Angella has been a dream. I honestly didn’t know what to expect,” admits Thompson, who is also a third-year student at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica, where she is reading for a degree in communications, arts, and technology. “The first time we met at her studio, we just did the measurements. Fifteen minutes in and out. The second time was so amazing. I saw the pieces coming together and the vision. To know she saw me and liked my look and thought it worked for her collection is a huge compliment.”

Wilkinson informs Sunday Lifestyle that this collection is themed around resilience and features visual representations of strength and evolution, such as bamboo, butterflies, and the lignum vitae.

Behind the doors of a 14th-floor suite at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, the corn-rowed-styled Thompson is all set for her close-up. Head tilted upwards, her sharp-angled face is the focus of make-up architect Paul March’s in-demand hands.

She’s almost ready — with fastidious last-minute checks by Wilkinson on the five-look wardrobe underway — for her first solo-girl editorial shoot. What’s remarkable is that today’s photo assignment came on her radar during her two-week hospitalisation last month.

“When I got the text from Mr Peters [SAINT’s chief executive officer Deiwght Peters], I was actually in the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI),” she reveals. “It was the sickest I had been in two years. It was really bad, and I wasn’t getting better.”

Thompson has sickle cell anaemia, a medical condition that disrupts the flow of red blood cells throughout the body and which can cause severe joint pains, dizziness, and infections. She was diagnosed at four years old.

“I remember getting the text and felt vitality rush through me. I got a shot of energy. It was crazy. I was so excited [that] I had a goal to focus on. The pain just got a bit muted,” the gap-toothed, five-feet-eleven-inches-tall beauty recalls as she zipped into a dress for her first look for the photo shoot at hand.

“I went to UHWI for a chest infection, and it developed into pneumonia. It was a very strenuous time. I was admitted for two weeks. Throughout the entire time, I was, like, I have to get better because I am not missing this shoot.”

For the Yallahs, St Thomas-reared Thompson, the eldest of three daughters for her upholsterer father Ishmerai Thompson and chef mother Lakeisha Simmonds, she prefers the glass-half-full outlook.

“I am seeing many full-sized models come out of the woodwork and create a space for themselves,” the model and college student assesses during her conversation with Sunday Lifestyle. “There are designers, too, making fashion-forward looks for full-sized models, so there is movement in the industry to create a space, and that’s something I want to be a part of. I really put my best foot forward because modelling is something I really enjoy. It was not something I ever thought I could do.”

A SAINT model for the past year, she has booked runway shows on The Rock and snagged test shoots with visiting photogs and stylists. Both opportunities cemented her body-positive confidence.

“The few shows I have done, the reception has been amazing. I hear people cheering, and after the show, they would come up to me to say seeing me on the runway is a great representation. That makes me so immensely proud. Even if one little girl down in the crowd sees me and says, ‘I didn’t know I could be a model. If she can do it, so can I’, I would love that. If that’s the only thing I could do in modelling, I would be so happy.”

Etched on Thompson’s vision board is a transplanted model life working with high fashion’s big guns.

“In my absolute dream world, I would love to live and work in New York. As to fashion houses I want to walk for, Mugler is top of the list. Also, I would love to rock the catwalk for Schiaparelli, DSquared, and Vivienne Westwood,” she relays.

As to the international model commanding her admiration at the moment, the response that comes throws us for a loop. It’s not a pick from the usual suspects on European catwalks or fashion mags.

“While I feel it’s easy for me to say a plus-sized model like Precious Lee or Paloma Elsesser, and there is absolutely no doubt that those models have pushed the envelope for full-sized models walking the runway and being represented in the fashion industry, someone who really inspired me is an up-and-coming model, Olandria Carthen. She is slender and five feet three inches. On her own front, she is opening up doors for unconventional models to have a space within the fashion industry. That’s what people want to see.” Thompson explains as she pauses in between the setup for shots of outfit number two in the long corridor of the Pegasus’ guest floor.

Of college life, with a 2027-eyed crossing of the finish line, Thompson concedes that the academic road has had its challenges.

Her illness and flare-ups have turned a four-year bachelor’s degree journey into five years to date. There have been periods of absence from UTech on account of ill health and hospital stays.

“Being close to God gives me a lot of comfort. It’s my cross to bear (sickle cell anaemia). In terms of pain management, I take my pills, drink water, and eat healthy,” she details of the lifestyle regimen she has adopted. “I try to be as healthy as I can be and keep active. Something that really helps is to be in a good mental state because very easily, I will get down and have a sickle cell crisis because mentally, I am not 100 per cent, and my body will react. It helps to be upbeat and stay positive and focus on my goals.”

Speaking on what directed her towards the UTech faculty she is enrolled in, Thompson says: “While I love the technical aspect of media like the lights, camera, action ... I am more inclined to become a marketing manager or a research analyst. Growing up, I was really interested in commercials for whatever odd reason. I would love to work behind the scenes to do research and come up with ideas for commercials. I always find that to be very interesting, and how much work goes into it.”

With Thompson’s twinned wish list of international modelling and becoming a communications expert keeping her spirits high, what does the present Christmas season mean to her?

“I enjoy the holidays. I love the family, food, and friends,” she notes as she waits on the photog to prepare the next shoot location. “But this is my third Christmas without my mother, who is overseas working, and I miss her so much. Everybody is celebrating, and I am, like, I just miss my mom. It gets bad around Christmas time”

The ever-optimistic Thompson is determined, however, to make the best of this Yuletide period. “There is a big family Christmas dinner that we have. That’s something that I really look forward to. All of my aunties, uncles, and cousins will be there. I love seeing them and getting together. Sometimes you don’t realise how much time has passed. It’s been three or four years, and everybody has grown older.”

As to plans for the new year, she divulges that “something that I am really excited to do in 2026 is learning how to play the guitar. I want to get into music ... I recently did a class at college where we learnt production, mixing and mastering, and I really enjoyed it.”

Thompson is living each day out loud, and it’s all music to her ears.

lifestyle@gleanerjm.com

CREDITS

Shot on location at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, 81 Knutsford Blvd, Kingston 5.

All clothing from Safidah by Angella Wilkinson, 876-373-8169.

Accessories by: Home Up: In & Outdoor Decor, 16 Hillcrest Avenue, St Andrew.

Photographer: Antoine Lodge

Make-up by: Paul March

Creative Director: Omar Tomlinson