SESSILEE LOPEZ leaped up the famed steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art last week, her dress flowing in the late summer breeze, looking more like a ballerina – agile, willowy and graceful – than a model. A gaggle of locals and tourists watched the spectacle in awe.
It wasn’t simply Sessilee’s arresting beauty – think young Grace Jones and Veronica Webb – that amazed them. The 19-year-old Philadelphia stunner was soaring in the air rocking sky-high, 6-inch heels.
“It was like she was running barefoot,” says New York Post Fashion Editor Serena French.
If your first response is, “Duh, that’s what models are supposed to do,” you don’t really understand the fierceness that is Sessilee Lopez. Sure, most models rip the runway in huge heels, but this beauty sprints and makes it look facile. Imagine the sweet swing of Tiger Woods, Big Papi or Carlos Beltran and you’ll get the gist.
At The Post shoot, Sessilee showed that she might just be the Michael Phelps of heels.
“I do feel more comfortable in heels than in flats and sneakers,” she, of a 5-foot, 10-inch frame, explains.
In fact, it was a pair of sick heels that first inspired Sessilee as a little girl growing up in West Philly to want to pursue modeling.
“My mom and I were watching a fashion show about spills on the runway and Naomi Campbell took a horrid one,” she recalls. “The camera zoomed in on the shoes and I see these crazy giant Vivienne Westwoods . . . my mom was horrified but I remember thinking, ‘They look like fun. I want to wear them!'”
This week, Sessilee – whose heritage is a gorgeous mixture of African American, Dominican, Portuguese and Cuban – is wearing a lot more than heels. She is one busy beauty, having walked at least a dozen shows for some of the hottest designers from Diane Von Furstenberg to Brian Reyes to Givenchy and Halston.
She’s Steven Meisel’s current muse (more on that later). And Kanye West personally chose her to be in the film noir/music video adaptation of his “Flashing Lights” song. This spring, Sessilee will debut as CK 1 perfume’s new face in a print and television campaign.
“Sessilee’s life has been like a fairytale,” says her mom, Janice Celeste, choking back tears. “Not all easy, but certainly purposeful.”
Mom says she knew from a very early age that her daughter would be destined for the catwalk.
“I used to call her my little super model,” says Celeste, a wedding cinematographer. “Kids can be cruel and, being dark, tall, frizzy haired, with an exotic look in the third grade, she got teased a lot. So I had to remind her that she was gorgeous.”
Encouraged by industry types (and Sessilee’s constant nagging), Celeste finally allowed herself to believe in her daughter’s dream and moved with her and her sister from Port St. Lucie, Florida, to New York City. After having just lost her job, this required every last bit of Celeste’s savings.
“It was a risk and scary, but when you know something is right, you got to be bold and fearless,” confirms Celeste.
The move paid off.
Sessilee was signed right away by a major modeling agency at 14 (she lied for two years about being older). By 16, she was strutting down catwalks in Paris and Milan and being photographed by the fashion photographer, Steven Meisel.
This spring, Meisel came calling again. Sessilee, who is signed with Major Models, was one of 18 models handpicked by the icon for the heralded Black Issue of Italian Vogue. She graced 27 pages of editorial and was one of four exclusive cover models along with Naomi Campbell, Liya Kebede and Jourdann Dunn.
The issue was Meisel and Italian Vogue’s answer to the dearth of black models on the catwalk in recent years. If the success of the issue – it sold out in 72 hours – proves beyond any doubt that black is indeed beautiful.
It also demonstrated that black sells. Infact, the issue was reprinted several times.
“I don’t get why there is always just one or two black models when you see dozens of Russian girls, or Eastern European or light-skinned Brazilians,” says Celeste.
Then there is the fact that Lopez is both black and Latina.
“You are doubly invisible,” says Celeste, “and it’s complicated dissecting and explaining it to people who don’t understand.
“So I don’t explain,” she says of her and her daughters’ mixed race and cultures.
“When people don’t see a Dominican chick, it kind of gets to me – it’s so simple minded,” says Sessilee, who kickboxes for fun and is always at The Met with her older sister who is a student at FIT. And so far, this classic beauty hasn’t veered away from her mom’s core lesson: Find pride in where you come from and in your own uniqueness.
“I view myself as an art form, not just a hanger,” says Sessilee.