Sessilee Lopez

[kahlilg]

Rad Hourani Summer Spring 09

wwd.com

 

[DevonDevore]

the video!

 

[FashinKid90]

So cute, she looks tired

 

[DevonDevore]

you know who she kinda looks like she could be related to?
anyone know the male model wendell lissimore?

 

[FashinKid90]

maybe by the mouth

 

[á la Balenciaga]

Free Image Hosting by ImageBam.com
MODELS

 

[janznote]

New York Post Video - Behind the Scenes of "Sess in the City"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU0L5oxM2mk​

 

[L0VE]

I had no idea that she was from Philly (West Philly), but she was in the inquirer today and on philly.com

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080914_From_Phila___a_rising_model_of_persistence.html

From Phila., a rising model of persistence

Sessilee Lopez, 19, gets hot spots in top shows.

By Elizabeth Wellington
Inquirer Fashion Writer
NEW YORK - With freshly blushed cheeks and smoothed-back tresses, 19-year-old Sessilee Lopez walked to the clothing racks backstage at the Anna Sui fashion show, curious about which Spring 2009 looks the designer planned to send her out in. To her surprise, not only was she to be featured in three teeny, tiny Mexican-art-inspired ensembles, but she also would be the second to walk Sui's runway, behind supermodel Agyness Deyn.
"Uh, yeah! This is a big deal," said the West Philadelphia-born Lopez, taking little jumps of joy. Sui is known throughout the industry for using the hot models of the moment to open and close her New York Fashion Week presentations. Tyra Banks and Gemma Ward walked for her at the height of their modeling careers, and Naomi Campbell regularly closes the shows.
"I'm the No. 2 girl to walk. The No. 2 girl!" Lopez squealed.
Two months ago, Lopez was one of four models on the cover of Italian Vogue's first issue dedicated to black models, shot by influential fashion photographer Steven Meisel.
The seductive Lopez, a mix of African American, Dominican, Cuban and Portuguese, was spotlighted in 33 photographs in the issue, which also featured Campbell, veteran cover girl Liya Kebede, and rising British model Jourdan Dunn on its cover.
In an industry where black models have a hard time finding work - no matter how beautiful - the issue was groundbreaking.
Since then, the demand for Lopez has soared higher than the price of designer it-bags in Europe.
"She has an it factor," said Phil McGowan, an agent at IMG Models in New York and Lopez's former manager. "When I met her, she was 14 years old, and that's when I saw it."
Lopez walked in 15 designer shows during this biggest week in American fashion, which started Sept. 4 and wrapped up Friday.
She started the week in the biannual Fashion Rocks celebrity show, where "Terrence [Howard] and Justin [Timberlake] kissed me, and Chris Brown tickled me."
She also walked in Diane von Furstenberg, Christophe Lemaire's for Lacoste, and Marc Jacobs.
"J-Lo complimented me on my shoes, and I met Elijah Wood," said Lopez, still celebrity-struck before amplifying on her Marc Jacobs experience.
"The models he uses are top-secret, so we were going to castings at, like, 3 in the morning so competing directors wouldn't know who was in his show."
Her popularity is moving beyond the runway, too. Lopez was Kanye West's love interest in the "Flashing Lights" video this summer. This fall she will debut as one of the faces of the CK1 women's fragrance in television and magazine ads, reuniting Lopez with Italian Vogue photographer Meisel.
"I've been so busy," she said. "But it's a good kind of busy. I'm working."

Where it all began

Lopez enjoyed a bacon cheeseburger and fries as she recalled her early childhood on Wyalusing Avenue in West Philly, from where she was bused to Fox Chase Elementary School. Mom Janice Celeste, a former model, and dad Dennis Lopez, a Philadelphia police officer, divorced around her first-grade year.
When Lopez was 10, Celeste moved her and her two sisters to Port St. Lucie, Fla., when the neighborhood at 56th and Wyalusing got rough.
Though she hasn't lived in Philly since, she returns to visit her father and shop at vintage clothing stores on South Street, picking up cheesesteaks and hoagies.

 

[L0VE]

From Phila., a rising model of persistence

Sessilee Lopez, 19, gets hot spots in top shows.

In Florida, Lopez became interested in modeling. At 13, already getting noticed at 5-foot-10, she asked her mother if she could give it a try. She entered a competition in Orlando and didn't win, but her runway potential was obvious. Her mother took Lopez around to local agencies, which suggested she take her high-fashion look to New York. Celeste had just lost her job as a director of a YMCA, so she said, "Why not?"
"We took the last check I had and stayed in a dumpy hotel in Jersey City, and we went to six agencies to evaluate Sessilee," Celeste recalled. "We went to IMG because Sessilee wanted to be at the same agency that Tyra Banks started at."
IMG signed Lopez right away.
A few months later, Lopez, then 14, took the runway for the first time. That year, she did about a dozen shows in New York and Europe.
Still, her career wasn't as fabulous as a walk-in closet yet. When she was 16, her weight began to fluctuate, and she battled a long bout of pneumonia. IMG dropped her.
"It was hard. I didn't know if I was going to work again," Lopez said.
Early this year, just in time for February's Fall 2008 collection, she was picked up by Major Model Management and was back on the New York and international runways.
As the New York shows ended Friday, she was preparing to go to London, followed by Milan and Paris for fashion season. And, yes, she gets clothing and accessories from designers - the bag she was carrying was an oversize Marc by Marc Jacobs satchel, more than a grand to you and me. Nice.
Still, the glamour comes with lots of schlepping and uncertainty. African American models are far from coveted in the industry, and she often finds herself competing with even younger girls for the one designated black spot on the runway. Then there are the haters. At 5-10 and size 2, she's often looked at by some on the street with disapproval, as though she's the reason women have body-image issues.
"It's stressful, and it's hard to deal with," she said. "It's not like I stick my finger down my throat."
Modeling can be a lonely life. There's a lot of competition, and while waiting around for gigs, Lopez spends a lot of time alone, filling her time reading James Patterson novels.
Two weeks ago, she moved in with her boyfriend in an apartment in Manhattan's Upper East side.
Magazine covers and runway shows pay with exposure, not money. Lopez is struggling to get health insurance to treat eczema, a chronic skin condition. A flare-up can cost a job.
The toughest part about the job is that she doesn't know what she's doing day to day.
"That bugs me," Lopez said. "I can't make plans to do anything. It just comes with the territory."

A long day

Earlier in the day, Lopez was up at 5 to walk back-to-back shows for designers Brian Reyes and Alessandro Dell'Acqua's inaugural Malo collection. She was one of three final models in both shows - a sign of her star power - and one of two African American models. She undressed quickly and stepped into a belted gray Gap dress and jeweled flats.
Still in full makeup, Lopez scurried down 40th Street and dipped into a magazine stand to look for the latest issues of Japanese Harper's Bazaar and V, where she was featured in fall fashion spreads. She also landed in that day's New York Post.
Lopez headed down to the Village for lunch at the Pink Teacup, a soul-food restaurant, but her BlackBerry buzzed with a text message directing her to 76th Street for a casting call with Mick Jagger's longtime girlfriend, designer L'Wren Scott.
She jumped in the cab, and after switching into leather ankle boots with four-inch heels, she began to explain the nerve-racking experience of a model casting call.

Philly.com

 

[|PerfectTonight|]

So cute! I didn't know Sess had a boyfriend?
Eczema and Pneumonia, god can someone explain what type of eszema she has? Must be really hard to battle it out. I bet IMG is kicking themselves in the booty for letting this goldmine go. Loosers.

Tyra Banks didn't start with IMG but Elite model management, something worthy pointing out perhaps.

 

[janznote]

Last page

The story continues here...

From Phila., a rising model of persistence

Sessilee Lopez, 19, gets hot spots in top shows.

During New York Fashion Week, Lopez was sent to scores of private locations to audition. There she was eyeballed. Would her feet fit the shoes? Would her hips be too big for the clothing? Polaroid pictures are snapped. Usually it takes 10 minutes, tops. "The clothes actually fit me," she said as she walked out. "But who knows if they will call me."
They didn't.

Showtime

Backstage at the Anna Sui show at the end of a long day is a who's who of the behind-the-scenes world of fashion. Lopez waves to them all. Thank goodness, this is the last big show of the night. Cameras flash as Nisa, the no-last-name makeup artist, uses a credit card to apply mascara to Lopez's lashes. Lopez wanders outside for air, and she's stopped for pictures by videographers, bloggers and others. She can give the perfect smile at the drop of a dime. There is rehearsal, and then the frenzy starts.
Sui's colorful collection complements Lopez - especially a bubblegum-pink floral shift with matching Indian print flats and oversize bag. Lopez's smile fades as she waits calmly for her turn to walk the runway. Three outfits later, she claps during the finale, and then she's slipping on her clothes, hurrying to meet her boyfriend for dinner.
"Sometimes I'm walking down the street and wondering, 'Did this really happen?' " she said. "Then I know that it has, and I can't be anything but happy."

 

[á la Balenciaga]

great article!

 

[Child_in_time]

Backstage at Rad Hourani, models.com
GORGEOUS!

 

[rosebud888]

Julien MacDonald s/s 09

catwalking

 

[rosebud888]

Todd Lynn S/S 09 London

catwalking

 

[happytrail]

she's so cute! i love her personality and her skin is absolutely flawless! oh, and her hair in the video look great! i wonder who her boyfriend is...

thanks for posting!

 

[á la Balenciaga]

is this her first time doing London fashion week?

 

[|PerfectTonight|]

V magazine
Photographer: Sebastian Faena
[models]

 

[tigerrouge]

I've loved Sess ever since she did that ice cold Bazaar edit back in 2006.

I like her because she's got a versatile vibe where she can go from being stong and masculine (where the Grace Jones thing comes from) to looking fierce and feminine... it's all in the hair and make-up. And fingers crossed for 2009 being even bigger than this year!

 

[á la Balenciaga]

she definitely outshined tyra