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Last Sunday, the dark clouds and thunder that had hung over the city of Atlanta for 14 long years finally parted to reveal a blindingly bright ray of sunshine: Shereé, in all her glory.
Even for those who are not religious, the peak of a meme over a decade in development is enough to consider a higher power. This because Real Housewives of Atlanta star Shereé Whitfield walking the runway in her highly anticipated and highly anticipated fashion show in a triumphant slow motion not only resemble Jesus left his grave early to take girls’ mouths – it was better.
Yes, after nearly 15 years, She by Shereé finally hit the market. And how gloriously pampered that Shereé’s infamous runners have finally seen the light of day in September-Spring-Summer! But it wouldn’t be a Shereé Whitfield event if there wasn’t an unexpected level of disaster to balance out the joy. The show may have gone smoothly at the last second, but the launch of the line was anything but smooth. That detachment is uniquely Shereé, and it’s what made this season finale Real Housewives of Atlanta a beautifully messy masterpiece.
For those who haven’t sat through all 8,904 hours (yes, I just did the math) of Bravo’s greatest. homemakers franchise to understand what we are talking about today, let me fill you in with a little explainer.
The first thing you need to know is that Shereé Whitfield is the smartest person to ever walk this earth, so mark that down. Once this is noted in your margins, we can proceed. From the moment she joined Real Housewives of Atlanta in season 1, Shereé was open about her love of fashion. By Season 2, she was talking about starting her own fashion line, She by Shereé. A series of disastrous events (unpaid designers, poor quality samples and an ego bigger than the entire state of Georgia – typical homemakers things) led to a mediocre “introduction” of She by Shereé fashion, after which the brand faded into franchise folklore.
That is, at least until Shereé joined the cast in seasons 9 and 10, the latter of which featured a reunion moment that made meme history. When Andy Cohen asked Sheree about the status of her line, the answer came out of her mouth in an anxious belch. “JOGGERS…she said, stroking her tail for comfort like a therapy dog. “It’s more lifestyle…yeah, athletic. But lifestyle.” When Cohen followed up with a simple “When?”, Shereé responded with a major witch gift: “Uh, maybe… more September. Or, uh. That is, spring-summer. September-show-show, spring-summer.”
Unfortunately for Shereé, it was a verbal misstep that went viral, enough to force Shereé “Whitty” Whitfield to consider her options: leave it as a somewhat awkward meme and learn to laugh at yourself, or come back stronger with a full Shereé Line and a real fashion show.
Four years later, after another series of late samples and accusations of not paying her collaborators, Shereé defied all the odds when the lights went dark and Shereé hit the runway. The line featured everything from Shereé’s famous joggers to sports bras and sweaters—all in various forms of awkward chafing and uncomfortable gathers. But with everyone else expecting the worst, it was more than enough to call the show a runaway success.
All that was left for Shereé was to pair the final airing of the episode months later with a successful e-commerce launch. Fans of the show and longtime Shereé supporters like myself were ready to burn our dollars. A quick refresh of the brand’s website after rolling the credits was disconcerting, to say the least.
The homepage took about two minutes to fully load on my mobile browser, and when it did, none of the buttons were working. I frantically tapped “SHOP” with my hot thumb up to 500 times, screaming and crying like the empath that I am, feeling Shereé’s panic and pain.
I thought that being smart enough to overcome this technological mishap by typing URL-slash-“shop” on the home page would have me convincing my runners first. Instead it took me to what looked like an error page for a Xanga or Angelfire site from 2002. Another stab in the heart. Why Shereé didn’t just create a fancy Squarespace domain with a fancy, ready-to-use template is beyond me, but I’m not a great designer.
It took about 90 minutes after the season finale ended for the e-commerce portion of the site to finally go live. When it was done, I have to admit I balked at the price: $125 for a pair of runners was a bit higher than the $50 I was willing to shell out before shipping. After a moment of weighing whether I would be or not that committed to the strike, I decided to bite the bullet—only to find that the page had crashed again.
I decided to put my Special runners on hold and drifted off to a sweet, peaceful sleep, knowing that Sheree had made it. But the next day, I woke up to accusations that Shereé had been buying in bulk fast fashion pieces already sold on sites like Shein and Amazon, repurposing them with her logo to raise the price by 20 percent.
Suddenly, the price point made perfect sense. Shereé selling $7 workout kits for $125 is a steal! Adding the Whitfield Crest to any item automatically increases its value by 350 percent, which I know from years of religious viewing. Shark tank– and I know the sharks would agree! It’s really basic math. Carry on, internet smarts.
“Everyone who follows Shereé Whitfield knows that everything I do is quality,” said Shereé. Women’s health after the detectives’ allegations came to light on Twitter. “I’m quality.” And she is absolutely right! A punch bag from Canal Street may look the same as the real thing, but the stitching will show in two weeks. The one from Shereé is custom couture, among the greatest homes in Paris and Milan. I would trust Shereé Whitfield with my life, so of course I trust her to ensure the quality of a pair of runners.
As for the site going down, Shereé said Women’s health, “It sounds bad, but it’s actually a good thing.” While I don’t agree with that, Shereé has access to a world and knowledge that we don’t, so I trust her to make the right choice. Now if she could only find some good web developers that I guess she built her site for, her Italian Mastiff, Gotti.
“This is just another example of over-promising and under-delivering,” Shereé said of her developers’ assurances that the site could handle up to 300,000 users. “But I am very grateful. I stand in prayer; I shudder even to think how many people are still interested at this time.”
And as much as I love to joke, laugh, and kick my feet in the air with glee about these things, this statement really excites me. I’ve written before about my love for all things Shereé, going so far as to sweat eight gallons in 90 degree heat to find a bag of chips she’s partial to.
There’s just something about The Whitfield Mystique that I find endlessly fascinating. I think it’s her determination to prove that she can take the leap and succeed – not only to her housemates and the world, but to herself. Shereé is here after 14 long years, and despite a few bumps in the road, there’s no way but forward. And when the site finally launches again in 2028, I’ll be first in line to buy my $125 pair of runners.
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