By SANDRA GUZMAN
Last updated: 1:20 pm
September 10, 2008
Posted: 4:24 am
September 10, 2008
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 thaån 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."
