MODELS

When 19-year-old Sessilee Lopez went to a casting call this spring with career-making fashion photographer Stephen Meisel, the Philadelphia native didn't know she was on the verge of making history.

This month, Lopez is one of about a dozen models in Italian Vogue's glossy dedication to the black supermodel. The mag features an unprecedented four-page foldout cover of high fashion's most sought-after brown faces: Liya Kebede, Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn and, yes, Sessilee Lopez.

Inside are 40 pages of the industry's biggest mocha fashionistas ever.

In a modern-day fashion world where celebrities are replacing models on the cover of magazines, and designers are using pale, thin women on the catwalks, this issue of Italian Vogue is monumental.

''Who would have thought that some random chick from Philly would make the cover of Italian Vogue?'' Lopez recently gushed in a telephone interview from Paris, where she has spent days shuttling from casting calls for the haute couture shows.

The beauty has appeared in photo spreads in Elle and Vibe and Italian Vogue. She has walked for Zac Posen, Anna Sui and Rachel Roi. Last fall she modeled on London runways for designer Vivienne Westwood. It was a big deal for her, she said.

''I always hated the fact that you would see so many women of color on calls, but when you got the job it was just you,'' Lopez said. ``. . . Once they find their one black girl -- if they use any -- that's it.''

Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani is being hailed as the brains behind the issue. In her 20 years at the helm, Sozzani has made a reputation for focusing on art more than commerce.

Art is a good place to start.

But American fashion is about aspiration -- even more so than beauty -- because aspiration, designers have discovered, is what sells.

Unfortunately, no matter how the fashion industry spins it, the clothing designers constructing the most popular runway presentations and the editors creating the most sought-after magazine spreads don't see black women as icons of aspirational beauty.

And even more sadly, they don't believe that wealthy women will buy clothing if black women are modeling it. They figure these women won't be able to visualize wearing it themselves.

According to Targetmarketnews.com, African Americans spend more than $20 billion on apparel. In a $196 billion market, that's just one sleeve of Swarovski crystals on a Badgley Mischka gown. As a result, black models are ignored at casting calls. Or worse, agencies are told not to send black women on jobs.

''[Fashion] is artistic, and designers definitely have a choice on how to present their art,'' said Betsy Jones, a producer whose 30-minute documentary on the decline of African-American models, Fashion Blackout, appeared on Black Entertainment Television in May. ``But when you are excluding an entire race, that's pretty unbelievable, especially in a country that's poised to have its first black president.''

When Lopez first got on the scene, she worked on both New York and international runways for about two years. But then, she said, the modeling jobs started to disappear and she was dropped from her IMG Models contract. Major Models picked her up earlier this year.

''I'm here trying to get a job like any other model,'' said Lopez, who's 5-foot-10 and roughly 120 pounds. ``I'm doing the same thing they do and I can't get work because I'm black? Our skin may be darker, but we deserve a chance. Every girl deserves a chance.''

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