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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."
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.
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