With an electric smile, long limbs, and a whirling dervish of a walk, model Pat Cleveland took Paris and the world by storm in the late 1970′s. The Cherokee/Black/Irish gazelle was first spied by a Vogue Editor in 1967 at the age of fourteen on her way to Manhattan’s LaGuardia Performing Arts School. In a matter of years she was the toast of Paris, hanging with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, and Claude Montana.
Alicia Drake in the book The Beautiful Fall described Pat Cleveland’s arrival in Paris in the late 1970’s, saying, “[she came] with liquorice hair, legs like pipe-cleaners, and a Harlem shimmy dance-movement that recalled Josephine Baker…she [ate] up the catwalks with her shimmering sexiness and laughter, bringing a movement and dance to fashion that no one had ever seen before. ”
Pat, along with friends Donna Jordan, Juan Ramos, and Antonio Lopez set the city of lights ablaze with their energy and insouciance. Pat once said, “We came to Europe to show off and we did just that…the point was we came from nowhere. We came out of America like wild, crazy people. We had grown up with movies and movie star attitude and we were there to be stars, superstars. We wanted to shine day and night.”
And shine she did, stomping the catwalks for Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Willi Smith, Valentino, and Chloé, and appearing in editorials for Vogue, GQ, Interview, Harper’s Bazaar, and more.
She, along with Karen Bjornson and Anjelica Huston, became one of Halston’s original models whom the designer affectionately called the Halstonettes. With her limber strut and electric energy, many called her a runway queen.
Pat eventually bowed out of the professional modeling world in the mid 80′s. Many of her friends had fallen victim to the AIDS epidemic and drug habits. She also fell in love with her current husband. She said, “I had someone to save me.”
Once a regular at Parisian nightspot Le Palace, she went to the club one last time to wave goodbye to her life as she had known it for so many years. As she told Alicia Drake, “I had on blue jeans, I had cut my hair. I was watching from the balcony down below on the stage…there were people swaying under drugs and André (Leon Talley) was there and he whispered to me, ‘You’re free now.’ I said goodbye to everybody…It was so hard to leave, but there was too much night, too many people dying.”
Pat still models from time to time, but spends most of her time with her two children and husband in New Jersey. Her daughter, Anna, has assumed her mother’s legacy, and now models for the likes of Zac Posen and Diane von Furstenberg.
See Pat work it here:
See Pat with Anna here:
See more videos on modelinia.com
Read more about Pat in this V-Man article.
Image Source: The Fashion Spot
February 3, 2011 11:30 am
Black women shut s**t down! Always have and always will have the best style.
February 3, 2011 11:41 am
Her photoshoots look like they could have taken place last week. Fashion truly moves in circles .
Ms. Pat Cleveland shutting it down. Love it.
February 3, 2011 12:25 pm
[...] Black History Month with Fashion Bomb Daily: Pat Cleveland » http:// fashionbombdaily.com [...]
February 3, 2011 12:25 pm
She is GORGEOUS! Giving fever, taking no prisoners!
February 3, 2011 12:34 pm
It’s funny how coonishly theatrically runway shows used to be, I’m glad things have changed and hope they do not go back.
February 3, 2011 12:54 pm
great piece! loved finding out more about her….she seems so vibrant, you just really want to hang with her!
February 3, 2011 1:46 pm
Brilliant piece Claire. Thanks for informing me about a name I now realise I barely knew. And yes, that book is in my Amazon basket as I type!
February 3, 2011 1:56 pm
So an uplifting post. Pat’s story is just what I needed to remind of beauty without regard for time or hue. All of the true greats shine from within. It’s that moxy that makes Pat fabulous!
February 3, 2011 2:09 pm
Love her, funny I just did a post on not too long ago. She seems so cool!
February 3, 2011 2:21 pm
Loving the Black history pieces!!
February 3, 2011 2:23 pm
She is breathtaking. This was a interesting and beautiful read!!! Smooches:)
February 3, 2011 2:29 pm
Love her.Love this post. Love our black history! :)
February 3, 2011 3:34 pm
She is beautiful!
February 3, 2011 4:05 pm
Black Girls Rock!!!!!!!! Great job with this!!!!!
February 3, 2011 4:34 pm
i love 1970′s fashion and models and i love pat cleveland. she was and is totally gorgeous.
February 3, 2011 5:17 pm
SHE IS BEAUTIFUL!
February 3, 2011 6:50 pm
wow, her daughter has nothing on her looks
February 3, 2011 7:55 pm
She still seems so wonderfully exuberant and glamorous, like you could call her name on the street and she would turn, camera-ready, giving nothing but face
February 3, 2011 8:42 pm
Thank you for these amazing BHM stories!
February 3, 2011 10:43 pm
Great job Claire. Amazing photos.
February 5, 2011 12:00 pm
One of my favorite vintage black models…she knows how to work the runway. Before Naomi Campbell, Pat Cleveland was shutting runways down.
February 8, 2011 11:10 am
[...] good dancer, Sterling frequently set the dance floor on fire with his good friend and model Pat Cleveland, along with socialites Bianca Jagger and Caroline Kennedy. Sterling St. Jacques and Pat Cleveland [...]
February 11, 2011 12:14 pm
Black beauty was and is still alive and well, in all its forms… wonderful piece Claire.
September 9, 2011 11:13 am
[...] Follow her if you like, it’s kind of funny. After getting the scoop on Marina, I said hi to legendary model Pat Cleveland (isn’t she gorgeous?) And of course couldn’t leave without saying hello to Margherita [...]
September 9, 2011 11:59 am
[...] Follow her if you like, it’s kind of funny. After getting the scoop on Marina, I said hi to legendary model Pat Cleveland (isn’t she gorgeous?) And of course couldn’t leave without saying hello to Margherita Missoni [...]
May 22, 2013 3:12 am
[...] good dancer, Sterling frequently set the dance floor on fire with his good friend and model Pat Cleveland, along with socialites Bianca Jagger and Caroline [...]