Precious Lee: ‘I’ve been told so many times I’ll never be a high fashion editorial girl’
“I’m a model with a mission,” Precious Lee tells me from her Paris hotel room where she has just wrapped up a gruelling fashion month. “I’ll always have things that I’m doing to elevate the collective and to make more space for others like me.”
At a US size 12 (a UK 16), Lee’s curvier silhouette puts her in the “plus-size” category — and she is a passionate activist for size diversity in the industry.
Having walked for Versace, Balmain, Lanvin and Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty in Paris, Milan and the US, the rising supermodel is finally having a rare “day of chill” before heading straight on to Toronto for work. She is one of the most in-demand models of the moment.
Lee is, as her Instagram bio reads, “in the business of making history”, having landed a string of firsts for the industry. Back in 2015, she became the first black curve model to appear on the pages of American Vogue and last autumn she was among the first three plus-size models — alongside London-born Alva Claire and Dutch model Jill Kortleve — to walk for Versace in its runway history.
This year she has owned September, the biggest month in the fashion world, appearing on the front of Vogue with the likes of Anok Yai, Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber and transgender model Ariel Nicholson in what is considered the magazine’s most diverse cover to date, before kicking off New York Fashion Week, opening (and closing) Christian Siriano’s spring/summer 2022 collection, and later making her Met Gala debut (on her birthday) in a spectacular silver shoulder-padded blazer dress by New York-based designer Area.
“I was born into fashion, maybe not this fashion world that I’m in today, but I’ve always been surrounded by beautiful things, from the art in the home that I grew up in Atlanta to the sculptures, to the clothing that my parents wore. They were very original in their style and I always had space to express myself through fashion,” she says. “My parents would give me a budget and one of my favourite things to do would be to get a catalogue that had all the kids’ clothing and my mom would tell me to put my initials on everything that I wanted. Back-to-school shopping was literally like one of my favourite things to do. I was like a tiny editor, I was so obsessed.”
Despite a deep love for clothes — and the limelight (“I was always making my parents watch me in living room fashion performances”) — Lee never considered a career in modelling. “People were always like ‘you’re so pretty’ or ‘you can dress well’, but I never really connected it to modelling because you didn’t see non-traditional size models at that time. I don’t know if subconsciously I never went into that thought process because I didn’t see anyone that looked like me.” The industry has lacked diversity in most ways but particularly if you’re not a size six, and while the likes of Lee, Claire and Ashley Graham are smashing barriers, there’s still a long way to go.
Lee landed her first modelling job at 18 after accompanying a friend to an open-call casting. “He was not very confident to go on his own and I’m that friend who would literally drag you to where you need to be, I will literally stand there and hold you up if necessary.” She ended up being the only person they asked to stay. Work rolled in — “there weren’t that many plus-size models in Atlanta at that time” — she graduated and moved to New York after being offered a contract. “I said I was gonna give it one year and if it wasn’t epic, I was going to law school.”
I said I was going to give it one year and if it wasn’t epic, I was going to law school
Today Lee oozes confidence but never veers on the side of cockiness. Her resolute self-belief, self-love and determination are infectious. “My path is literally learning, relearning, unlearning, accepting and really focusing on what I want to achieve. It’s a competitive industry and our job and livelihood is based on our looks. People don’t understand what that means in terms of self-esteem, comparing yourself to the next person is the worst thing that you can do, genuinely.”
Who is her biggest inspiration? “I’ve always admired Naomi Campbell and what she’s done for women of colour in fashion. What I learned from her was accepting your own power. Once you do that, you don’t have to think about anybody else’s legs, body, stomach, none of that.” What’s her biggest piece of life advice? “Embrace your originality. Once you do that, you will open doors that you didn’t even know you wanted to open and your path will become so much clearer.” She continues: “You can make a whole career out of being something you’re not and one day not understand how you got there and not want to be there.”
Though, she concedes, it’s easier said than done. “If anybody learns anything from me, it’s listen to your own voice. I really feel like having an indomitable spirit has taken me so far. I’ve been told so many times I’ll never be a high fashion editorial girl. I’ve been told I’ll never be commercial. I’ve been told I’ll never work this, I’ll never do this, or I wouldn’t get this without this. And I always knew it was bullshit. I always knew that the people that were telling me that were limited themselves. You’re going to get a lot of that in this industry but you have to understand that projection is a waste of time when you have a goal in mind.”
How does she stay grounded while taking the fashion world by storm? Practising breathwork and gratitude are her two biggest wellness tools. “I actually haven’t been doing very much of it because I’ve been so busy but that’s when you’re supposed to do it the most! Those are the breakthrough moments, when you feel really, really, really low.” In fact, she has a particular visualisation technique which helps her through. “Take a deep breath and listen to your own heartbeat. Think of your heart as a lung, inhaling love and then releasing out. I want to move from my heart in everything that I do. I think that people should do more deep breathing and say thank you and be grateful, even when you’re cry-screaming in your pillow — gratitude releases so much heaviness out of your heart, it’s quite magical.”
We’re chatting today to discuss her role as one of the new faces of jewellery brand Pandora’s new campaign, Wearing Occasions, which she says is a natural fit. “Jewellery is something that has always completed a look for me and my family. I mean, I had my ears pierced at three months! I would wear little bangles and hair accessories, I just didn’t know that it wasn’t a part of your outfit. And I love the Pandora traditions of giving your mom a charm every Mother’s Day or Christmas,” she says.
What’s next for this trailblazer? Lee has her sights firmly set on Hollywood. She’s now represented by WME and has landed her first role appearing in two episodes of Run The World, a Starz series about a group of black women living in Harlem. “I play a bartender. I wanted to be one in college so bad, but I was a hostess instead. I’m writing and I definitely have more to come.” So stay tuned. “This is the most shows that I’ve ever walked in one season, so now I’m being more selective on the things that I engage with project-wise.”
Her dream role? “A superhero! I’m a huge Batman and Marvel fan. There’s something about that power and this vulnerability in superheroes that I identify with so much — it’s kind of like being a little angry Care Bear,” she laughs. “Having the struggle and making the struggle be a part of your power. I would also love to be in a really gritty, drama movie, I want to be like arggggh!” she screams. “There are so many different roles out there that you don’t ever see anybody that looks like me, my size or my colour doing.”
Our time is up and I’m so consumed by how articulate, funny and fearless Precious Lee is that we’ve barely got through half of my questions. Despite having just survived fashion month, she has a way of energising you. She is that friend who lifts you up.
