For some time, the world has witnessed a global movement of diversity and inclusion in all spaces, including the fashion industry. In terms of casting, a lot has changed on the catwalks. In recent seasons, we’ve seen a diversity of bodies, genders, styles, and races, allowing previously unknown fashion names to emerge.
Precious Lee has been a standout on the runway in recent seasons. Lee has become one of the biggest names on the international catwalks since her breakthrough Versace Spring/Summer 2021 runway appearance alongside major models like Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner. During the New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2022, brands like Michael Kors, Moschino, Prabal Gurung, and Christian Siriano used her talent to make fashion more democratic and highly representative.
Precious Lee, a glamorous plus-size icon, is profiled below.
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Precious Lee: Who Is She?
Precious Lee is a curvy American fashion model, Instagram celebrity, and social media celebrity. She is well-known for her appearances on the covers of international fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and many others. She is also well-known for posting hot, attractive, modeling Instagram photos.
Precious Lee was raised with her siblings and parents in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned a mass media arts degree from Clark Atlanta University. She started modeling after high school after being a modeling and fashion fanatic from a young age. Her modeling career took off after IMG Models signed her.
It’s difficult not to notice the Atlanta native as she walks down the aisle of a mock theater set, waving a glove-shaped stole and glistening in a metallic fringed gown. Lee is instantly reminiscent of a 1930s screen siren reborn in 2021, with a hot pink lipstick and blond curled bob completing the super glamorous ensemble.
In some ways, it appears that the industry is also undergoing a rebirth because it is finally focusing its spotlight on her and allowing her to shine. Lee has been modeling for nearly a decade and is no stranger to a fashion show or a photo shoot.
Early Life
It takes exceptional genes to become a supermodel. That is as true for Precious Lee as it was for all of the runway stars before her. But her parents didn’t just give her great cheekbones; they also gave her attitude—the kind of swagger that distinguishes a pretty face from a superstar.
Consider her mother: a woman who went all-in on the glam. Lee was eight years old when she first saw her mother without makeup, and she remembers the blowout Emmy parties as if they were the actual ceremony. She’d put on a full, extra face as if she were on the red carpet, and they’d watch the Emmys while eating hors d’oeuvres.
Her father owned Atlanta hair salons and constantly put Lee in the seat for daring haircuts and colors. Precious won Best Hair in high school, thanks to his advice.
Lee entered the industry with a firm system of values: representation matters, and we should strive to include every type of Blackness exemplified on beauty campaigns, runways, and everything in between.
Achievements and Career
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Precious, who has always been interested in fashion and modeling, decided to become a fashion model while finishing her education. The model rose to fame after posing for local brands. Her big break as a model came after she was signed by IMG Models Worldwide.
Lee rose to fame as a Lane Bryant model, with her curves plastered on billboards strutting in the plus-size womenswear company’s daring 2015 commercial and promoting it. Lee was also the first Black curve model to ever show up in the American version of the fashion bible, thanks to the brand’s #PlusIsEqual campaign and the following ad in the 2015 September issue of Vogue.
Precious rose to prominence quickly due to her outstanding work as a fashion model. She has posed for and been the face of various makeup, fashion, sports, apparel, and lingerie brands, including Amazon Fashion, Pandora, Aquazzura, Versace, Ralph Lauren, and many more. Precious has also graced the covers of numerous magazines and newspapers, including Glamour, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and many more.
Lee was also the face of the Makeup For Ever’s Rouge Artist collection, which included a 60-piece assortment of long-lasting satin lipsticks. The campaign came after her Skims campaign, her first cover, and a slew of runways she walked this fashion week.
At 31 years old, the model has nearly a decade of campaigns and fashion shows, including being the first Black plus-size model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. When Versace’s September 2020 fashion show rolled around, there was Lee, a trailblazer as one of the only three plus-size models to ever walk the runway for the world-famous luxury brand.
Personal Style
The model, the daughter of a teacher mother and a hairdresser father, is a style icon known for fusing sensuality and glamour. She can wear furry coats and feathers with sensual lingerie and a bodycon silhouette, or she can go for a more sporty look with sweatshirt joggers and ribbed crop tops, sneakers with 3/4 socks, and lots of statement accessories like various glasses and gold maxi-chains. She always looks glamorous in whatever she wears.
Today, Lee says she lets herself be surrounded by inspirational plus-size model friends, such as her good friend Robin Lawley, who was the first plus-size model to have her page in Sports Illustrated’s 2015 swim issue.
Precious Lee on Black Makeup Representation
There are various types of beauty, and Lee believes it is important for other young girls and Black women to see that recognized in makeup. Fashion and beauty go hand in hand, so when you’re a woman, and you’re just coming into your own, figuring out your look, or changing your style, that vision and image tied to makeup is also important.
Lipsticks (checkout these lipstick ingredients that can cause an allergic reaction!) do not have to be a sample size. It is not necessary to be a sample size to wear blush. That is why, according to Lee, beauty is a great place to expand and explore inclusivity.
You must see Precious Lee up close to fully appreciate her glow, an energy that is essential to her beauty. From her first editorials in store catalogs, posing like she was in a couture campaign, to her more recent appearances on runways and magazine covers, it’s been clear that she’s a model the modeling and fashion industry wants to keep an eye on. It’s a win for a Southern Black woman who has consistently fought against assumptions of what she can and can’t do.