JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tyra Banks is back on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover, and inside the magazine, the 45-year-old model is turning heads in a swimsuit created by a local designer.
Cheryl Keel had the privilege of hand-stitching a remake of this swimsuit Tyra Banks wore in 1997 when she became the first black model to pose on the cover alone.
Keel is a talented designer, and she said this is not the first time her designs have landed in a Sports Illustrated magazine.
The Jacksonville designer and Florida State University graduate opened her online business called "Ola Vida Swimwear" in 2010.
"I'm trying to make functional swimsuits because Ola Vida means wave life, so I like to surf I like to do water sports," said Keel. "I wanted to make functional swimsuits that are also fashionable."
Keel has had her fair share of success as the owner of a small business. Shortly after launching her company, one of her designs was selected to be in the 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated, something only about 500 out of 25,000 designers get.
For the first time, her design made it on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2018.
This year, while her swimsuit did not make the cover, she had the challenge or remaking the suit Banks wore in 1997.
"The original swimsuit was just a printed fabric but that was 20 years ago," Keel said. "There's no way I could get that fabric. So I had to come up with a solution. All of the polka dots I had to hand cut out the polka dots and sew them on the fabric."
Keel said she is excited to see the hard copy issue when it hits the shelves.
If you want to look through her swimwear on her website, https://shop.olavidaswimwear.com/.