Pat Cleveland | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1950-06-23)June 23, 1950 (age 74) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | High School of Art and Design |
| Occupation | Model |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | Sterling St. Jacques (1976-1977) |
| Children | 2 |
| Modeling information | |
| Hair color | Dark Brown |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Agency | The Model CoOp (New York) Next Model Management (Paris)[1] |
Patricia Cleveland (born June 23, 1950) is an American fashion model who initially attained success in the 1960s and 1970s and was one of the first African-American models within the fashion industry to achieve prominence as a runway model and print model.
Cleveland was born in New York City in 1950[2] to Johnny Johnston, a jazz saxophonist of Irish and Swedish ancestry, andLady Bird Cleveland, an artist of African-American, Native-American and Irish-Scottish ancestry.[2] Her parents separated when she was young and she was raised by her mother inHarlem. She studied performing arts atFiorello H. LaGuardia High School and studied design at New York'sHigh School of Art and Design and hoped to become a fashion designer.[3] Some of her earliest photographs as a youngster were taken byCarl Van Vechten, who was among her mother's coterie of artist friends.[4] Cleveland noted in her bookWalking with the Muses: A Memoir that her first photographs were taken when she was fourteen by Van Vechten's friendAdelaide Passen,[5] one of the first women employed as a press photographer in the United States.[6]
Cleveland's career as a model began in 1966 when she was on a subway platform with a friend en route to class and was noticed by the assistant toCarrie Donovan, fashion editor atVogue. Donovan, impressed by Cleveland's fashionable clothing, invited her to tour theVogue offices and the magazine subsequently published a feature on her as an up-and-coming young designer.[3] The article led to her being approached byEbony which asked Cleveland if she would perform as model for its Fashion Fair national runway tour. Cleveland agreed and decided she would place her aspirations to be a designer on hold and try her luck as a fashion model.[7]
Following her tour withEbony, in which she experienced acts of violent racism in theSouthern United States,[3] Cleveland caught the attention of designers such as Jacques Tiffeau andStephen Burrows. At age 18, she was signed toWilhelmina Models after designerOleg Cassini initially recommended her toEileen Ford. Cleveland has stated that Ford had rejected her based on her race.[7]
Soon she was meeting and working with many of the fashion industry's top enterprising people of the era, includingDiana Vreeland and being photographed byIrving Penn,Steven Meisel,Richard Avedon,Christopher Makos, andAndy Warhol[8][9] and briefly became a muse toSalvador Dalí.[10] She made her first appearance as a fashion model in AmericanVogue in June 1970, photographed byBerry Berenson[11] and the same year, appeared in the very first issue ofEssence magazine. Despite her early success, Cleveland grew disillusioned with America and what she perceived to be its racist attitudes towards black models.[2] She relocated to Paris at the suggestion of fashion illustratorAntonio Lopez in 1971, and soon became a house model forKarl Lagerfeld, who was the main designer atChloé. Cleveland vowed not to return to the United States until a black model appeared on the American cover ofVogue.[3]
During the 1970s, Cleveland modeled for designers such asValentino,Oscar de la Renta,Yves Saint Laurent,Thierry Mugler,Diane von Furstenberg, andChristian Dior. WithKaren Bjornson,Anjelica Huston,Alva Chinn,Elsa Peretti, andPat Ast, among others, she became one ofHalston's favored troupe of models, nicknamed the Halstonettes.[12][13] Halston called Cleveland "the greatest walking mannequin in the business." In 2019, she was one of many of his former models to be interviewed for the documentary filmHalston.
The pinnacle of her success in Europe was her participation in the November 28, 1973Battle of Versailles Fashion Show; a gala event initially conceived as a publicity stunt and fundraiser held atThéâtre Gabriel for the then-dilapidatedPalace of Versailles. The gala, which pitted five French designers: Yves Saint Laurent,Hubert de Givenchy,Pierre Cardin,Emanuel Ungaro and Christian Dior'sMarc Bohan, against five American designers:Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta,Anne Klein, Halston and Stephen Burrows in a fashion showdown. The event became an international fashion extravaganza with style writers and society columnists, wealthy socialites, royalty, tycoons and politicians in attendance.[14] Cleveland was one of 36 models to walk the runway for the event. Of the 36 models, ten were black, an unprecedented number for the era.[14] The gala later was chronicled in the 2015Pulitzer Prize winningThe Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History byRobin Givhan.[15]
AfterBeverly Johnson became the first black model to appear on the cover of AmericanVogue in August 1974,[16] Cleveland returned to the United States and continued her modeling career. From the early to late 1970s, she appeared on the cover ofVanity Fair,Interview,Essence,Harper's,Cosmopolitan,Women’s Wear Daily,L'Officiel,The Sunday Times Magazine,GQ,[3]Vogue Paris,W, andElle.
During the mid to late 1970s, Cleveland and her fiancéSterling St. Jacques were a famous dancing couple.[17][18] Dubbed byPeople magazine as the "hottest couple in America," they were comparable toFred Astaire andGinger Rogers.[5] They danced together at all the top New York nightclubs, includingHurrah,Regine's, andStudio 54.[5] In 1976, they appeared in the sexually explicitBroadway playLet My People Come, which was only shown at theMorosco Theater.[19][5] They were a fixture at New York's exclusive Studio 54, often in the company of friends such as Halston,Jerry Hall,Grace Jones, and Andy Warhol.[20]
After raising two children, Cleveland sporadically returned to modeling. In 1995, she started her own modeling agency in Milan. In 2003, Cleveland and her daughter Anna walked for Chanel atParis Fashion Week. In 2010, she appeared in the documentaryUltrasuede, In Search of Halston and the same year appeared as a guest judge on the reality television series and interactive competitionAmerica's Next Top Model. In 2012, she appeared in two more fashion documentaries,Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution andTimothy Greenfield-Sanders'About Face: Supermodels Then and Now.[11] In 2013, she made an appearance onThe Face, a modeling-themed reality television show hosted by modelNaomi Campbell[11] and in 2013 appeared in an ad campaign forMAC Cosmetics with models Jerry Hall andMarisa Berenson that was launched in dedication of fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez, who died ofAIDS in 1987 and who had been close friends with all three models and instrumental in their early careers.[21]
In 2014, she walked the runway forMoschino's Spring Collection in Milan and appeared on the cover ofNuméro Russia, shot and styled byTom Ford.[22] In 2015, she returned toNew York Fashion Week to walk the runway forZac Posen, who also hired her and her daughter Anna to showcase his June 2015 resort collection,[23] appeared inVogue Japan and appeared in an ad campaign forBarneys New York.[24] Both Cleveland and her daughter Anna were chosen for a 2015 ad campaign for French multinational high fashion houseLanvin.[25] In 2016, she walked the runway forH&M duringParis Fashion Week and appeared on the cover ofVogue Italia with her family.[26] She also appeared in editorials forHarper's Bazaar Japan andVogue Spain. In February 2019, at age 68, she walked the runway for Hellessy andNaeem Khan at New York Fashion Week with former Halstonettes Karen Bjornson and Alva Chinn,[27] and in March of the same year, she walked the runway (along with early peers Beverly Johnson and Grace Jones) at Paris Fashion Week forTommy Hilfiger andZendaya.[28]
As early as 1980, the term "supermodel" was used to describe Cleveland. Former American editor-at-large forVogue magazineAndré Leon Talley wrote, "She is the all-time superstar model" in an article for the June 1980 issue ofEbony magazine.[11] Talley referred to Cleveland as "The first black supermodel, theJosephine Baker of the international runways" in his 2003 published memoirA.L.T.: A Memoir.[29]Vogue contributor Tina Isaac-Goizé referred to Cleveland as a "supermodel" in a 2015 article about Cleveland's daughter Anna.[30]
In 2021, Cleveland was played by model and actressDilone in the five-partNetflix miniseries biographical dramaHalston, which chronicled the life of Cleveland's longtime friend, designer Halston.[31]
Cleveland had a six-year on-and-off affair with actorWarren Beatty.[32] She was engaged to dancerSterling St. Jacques .[18] In 1978, she married model Martin Snaric; the two later divorced.[11] In 1982 she married Dutch former model and fashion photographer Paul van Ravenstein,[33] with whom she has two children, Noel van Ravenstein (born in 1984) andAnna Cleveland van Ravenstein (born 1989), who has also become a fashion model.[10]
In 2016, she wroteWalking with the Muses: A Memoir, covering her early life in Harlem and her career in the fashion industry. The book was published by Atria Publishing Group, 37 Ink, Simon & Schuster. In addition to her writing, running her business, and public appearances, Cleveland is also on a quest to get her mother, Ladybird Cleveland's art accepted into theSmithsonian Institution.[34] Cleveland is a devotee ofGurumayi Chidvilasananda, the current spiritual head of theSiddha Yoga path.[4]
In March 2019, days after walking the runway for the Tommy Hilfiger show at Paris Fashion Week, Cleveland was rushed to theAmerican Hospital of Paris after falling ill. She underwent emergency surgery on March 23 after French doctors discovered she hadcolon cancer.[35] Shortly after her surgery, Cleveland's husband Paul announced that Cleveland did not have enough medical insurance to cover the cost of the surgery. A public donation page was established by van Ravenstein on a crowdfunding platform to help pay for Cleveland's medical expenses. Donations were made from many individuals within the fashion industry, including designers;Anna Sui,Kim Jones,Marc Jacobs,Zac Posen,Thierry Mugler,Kimora Lee Simmons, andElsa Peretti; modelsCarla Bruni,Helena Christensen, Marisa Berenson,Marpessa Hennink, andLineisy Montero; photographersInez van Lamsweerde,Vinoodh Matadin,Roxanne Lowit andSteven Klein; stylist and fashion journalistKatie Grand; and businesswoman and DJMarjorie Gubelmann.[36] In September 2019, following further treatment, she returned to the runway, walking for the 2020 Spring Season shows for designersNicole Miller andChiara Boni.[37]
Cleveland lives with her husband nearMorristown, New Jersey.[35]