With alluring curves and groundbreaking moves, our Cover star for the L’Officiel December issue, Desiree Scholtz has an empowering aura to make everyone keep an eye on!

Team Credits:
Model: Desiree Schlotz @desireeschlotz
Photographer: Matt Doheny @dohenyphoto
Stylist: Emily Alvrez @emily.alvrez
Makeup: Jacqui Lee @thejacquii
Hair: Bong Buan @bong2buan

Having a soul full of spirituality, our Cover star for L’Officiel December issue Desiree Scholtz opens her heart out about the idea behind the version of her brand, spirituality’s influence on the bikinis, and the future of the brand. “Whatever you give out you’re gonna receive back so even if I feel like people are hating on me, I still just send them love, happiness and positive energy. I just try not to feed into it.” Read out the whole conversation to get even more intrigued with her personality!

Desiree Scholtz

Dress: Emily Alvrez @emily.alvrez

Desiree “Desi” Scholtz is no stranger to having her life on the show for the public eye. When she was 13 years old, a catfish account with her modelling pictures gained over 500,000 followers. After establishing her true identity online, Desiree gained a huge following and many of those fans have stuck with her all these years. Desi’s loyal fans constantly showed interest in her everyday life which emboldens her to create content that is reliable. Desiree and her followers have built a strong connection, and she can fearlessly showcase her true personality online. After years of hard work in the industry, Desiree started a business that profoundly echoes her character and spirituality.

In accordance to the brand’s website, “Celestial Swim is a communal-based brand shaped from passion and fuelled by purpose.” It is putting forward high-quality and eloquent swimsuits to their clients. “What I’ve been doing is just being myself. I’ve been so thankful to have a community that is just interested in that and follow me for years,” said Desiree. But a few aren’t as humble towards the businesswoman and entrepreneur, throwing negative comments and critiques her way. “It can be very exhausting, but I constantly have to like divert myself back into my spiritual practices,” Desiree said embracing her strong personality. “Whatever you give out you’re going to get back, so if I sense people are abhorring me, I still send them love, joy and positive energy. I just try not to get myself into it.”

As a young social media influencer, Desiree had a golden opportunity to travel to the Caribbean Island Antigua with other models and creatives. With all the ambiguity and chaos in the world throughout 2020, Desiree grabbed this opportunity. She got ready to plunge herself in another culture, Desi escaped to Antigua and commenced admiring the country’s beauty. However, she swiftly realized her island getaway would not be what she anticipated. Desiree was enforced to settle in Antigua for over six weeks due to airport closures.

Desiree Scholtz

Blazer: Boohoo @boohoo

“I was stuck in the resort with an unfamiliar group of people and they closed the airports down in Antigua,” said Desiree. “It felt like I was in solitude. I had to sit with my thoughts and just really think about what was going on in the world.” Amongst all this uncertainty, Desiree leaned on her spirituality for comfort and began meditating, journaling, and practicing yoga daily. Antigua is now a very peculiar place for Desi because her period there turned into her most eye-opening travel experience. The seclusion ignited her spiritual awakening and once she got back home, spirituality became an even bigger focus in her life.

The idea for Celestial Swim derived as Desiree was about to reach one million followers. To honour this milestone, Desi and her best friend/business partner Jessica developed their brand. Through manifesting, journaling, and talking about gratitude, the two women practice spirituality on a regular basis and they incorporate that aspect of living into the brand. “We just desired to have that spiritual sense to demonstrate who we are,” continued Desiree. “And we wanted to portray who we are because we are the face of the brand.” Each swimsuit is designed with the complete intention and including a divine message to amplify feminine beauty.

In ‘Ethereal,’ the brand’s first collection, each swimsuit is named after a goddess and modelled after her characteristics to emancipate the wearer to feel just as strong and confident as the goddess. “And we came up with the name Ethereal because we just wished it to have a touch of timeless, with staples that could have a place in your closets forever,” she explained. “And so, we wished to pair it with timeless goddesses in that spiritual aspect with a tangible product.”

Desiree Scholtz

Dress: Emily Alvrez @emily.alvrez

Desiree resonates herself most with Celestial’s Iris bikini, which was aroused by the goddess of communication. This swimsuit reminds women to constantly articulate and express their desires while maintaining dignity and kind-heartedness for others. “I feel like that’s somewhat I really incorporate in my life on a day-to-day base,” said Desiree. “I try to just connect well with myself and with others too. It has always been a burdensome thing for me but, I just have to express my truth…and it’s the perfect tanning bikini.”

As a first-time entrepreneur and business owner, Desiree had much to acquire before the launch of Celestial Swim. But her experience as a freelance model and makeup artist gave her adequate insights to kickstart her brand. Her prior knowledge directs her business practices to assure that Celestial Swim products are morally sourced. “Just because I’ve been a model for such a long time, I know that fast fashion really harms the climate and pollutes it, like adding so much effluence. So, by using eco-sustainable fabrics, I feel like we’re spreading off somewhat of a good carbon footprint as well.”

Celestial Swim material is devoted to providing women with superior suits without the cost of environmental degradation. These types of choices originate effortlessly to Desiree and Jessica since they are a self-funded powerhouse and have complete control over the brand. What can one expect from Celestial Swim in the future? Desiree and Jessica are meticulously designing their next collection, which will be enthused by different travel destinations – an ode to Desi’s life changing Antigua trip. Although, we’ll have to wait till 2024 for that collection, Celestial will produce one-piece swimsuits for women who desire a bit more coverage or just craving the fit! The “Thea” body chains have also dropped recently and we can expect more to arrive soon. No matter which Celestial Swim products you want, rest assured they will be made with a sensible, spiritual mind to empower you to feel as good as you look.