Long before the reality TV cameras were rolling or the billion-dollar Baby Phat empire was even a glimmer in her eye, there was just a lanky kid from St. Louis named Kimora Lee Perkins. Honestly, if you saw her in the mid-1980s, you might not have guessed she’d become the "Queen of Fabulosity." She was six feet tall by the time she hit puberty. That kind of height doesn't exactly make you popular in middle school. Kids called her a "chinky giraffe." It’s a harsh, ugly piece of her history, but it’s the fuel that started everything.
She was an outcast. Total weirdo in the eyes of her peers. Her mother, Joanne Kyoko Syng, saw her daughter’s confidence tanking and did what any worried mom might do: she enrolled her in modeling classes at age eleven. It wasn't about the runway back then. It was about standing up straight. But as it turns out, Kimora Lee Simmons young was destined for much more than just improved posture.
From St. Louis to the Chanel Runway
At 13, Kimora went to a model search in Kansas City. She wasn't some polished professional; she was a kid who stood 5'10" and felt awkward in her own skin. Marie-Christine Kollock, an agent from Paris, saw her and basically realized they’d found a unicorn.
Within months, she was on a plane to Paris.
Imagine being 14 and having Karl Lagerfeld call you his "Face of the 21st Century." That’s not a normal childhood. While other kids were worrying about algebra, Kimora was living in a Parisian apartment with a young Tyra Banks. They were roommates. Tyra has famously told stories about how Kimora would walk in with a brand-new Prada bag while she was still carrying something from a discount store. Even then, Kimora had that "it" factor. She wasn't just a model; she was a muse.
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Lagerfeld was obsessed with her. He called her one of his "Karlettes." In a world that was—let’s be real—incredibly white and traditional, Lagerfeld putting a mixed-race (Black and Japanese) girl from Missouri at the center of Chanel was a massive middle finger to the status quo.
She closed his 1989 haute-couture show dressed as a child bride. It was iconic. It was weird. It was pure Kimora.
The Grind Most People Don't See
People think she just fell into wealth because of her later marriage to Russell Simmons, but the hustle started way before that. Kimora Lee Simmons young was actually a workhorse. She was flying back and forth between Paris and St. Louis to finish high school. She eventually graduated from Lutheran High School North, but her "real" education was happening on the runways of Fendi, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent.
There’s this funny bit of trivia about her early days: her phone bill.
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In a recent interview, she admitted her phone bills used to hit $5,000 a month. Remember, this was before WhatsApp or FaceTime. She was a homesick teenager in Europe calling her mom back in Missouri. She was earning a fortune and spending it just to hear a familiar voice.
By 15, she had a Rolex and a BMW. She was living a life that most adults couldn't fathom, yet she was still technically a minor. That kind of early exposure to extreme luxury is exactly what formed the DNA of her future business. She didn't just want to wear the clothes; she understood the power they held.
Meeting Russell and the Birth of an Era
The transition from high fashion model to mogul happened when she met Russell Simmons. She was 17; he was 35. It was 1992, and the age gap definitely raised eyebrows then and still does now. But for Kimora, it was a collision of two very different worlds: the high-glitz Parisian couture world and the raw, exploding energy of New York hip-hop.
She wasn't content being a trophy wife.
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When Russell was handing out Phat Farm "baby tees" to promote his menswear, Kimora saw the potential. She basically hijacked the project. She knew that women didn't want to wear oversized men's jerseys. They wanted something "sexy, cool, and fly." That was the birth of Baby Phat in 1999.
Why Young Kimora Changed the Game
- The Look: She proved that "multiethnic" wasn't just a buzzword; it was the future of beauty.
- The Attitude: She brought high-fashion "snobbery" into streetwear, making it aspirational.
- The Business: She was one of the first Black women to head a billion-dollar company.
The Legacy of "Fabulosity"
When we look back at Kimora Lee Simmons young, we see a girl who took the things people bullied her for—her height, her eyes, her "weirdness"—and turned them into a global brand. She didn't wait for the fashion industry to open its doors; she kicked them in while wearing six-inch stilettos.
She once told People that "everything people thought was weird about me before was now good." That's the core lesson of her early life.
She eventually went back to school, too. In 2018, she graduated with a degree in Business and Entrepreneurial Affairs from the University of Hartford. It was a full-circle moment for a woman who had already been running a business for decades.
How to Apply the "Kimora Method" to Your Own Career
If you're looking to build something massive, you have to look at how Kimora leveraged her early "disadvantages":
- Own the outliers. Whatever makes you "weird" in your current industry is likely your biggest selling point. Kimora's height was a curse in Missouri and a goldmine in Paris.
- Find a mentor who disrupts. Working with Karl Lagerfeld taught her that you don't have to follow the rules to win. Find the "Lagerfeld" in your field.
- Bridge two worlds. Baby Phat succeeded because it lived at the intersection of hip-hop and couture. Look for "gaps" between two industries that shouldn't work together, but do.
- Invest in your brand early. Even when she was just a model, Kimora was building a persona. Your "personal brand" isn't a modern social media invention; it's how you carry yourself in every room.
Kimora Lee Simmons didn't just survive being a "weird" kid; she used it to build a throne. Whether you loved the rhinestone-encrusted cats of the early 2000s or not, you have to respect the hustle of a 14-year-old girl who left St. Louis to take over the world.