Pat Cleveland

Patricia Cleveland (born June 23, 1950) is an American fashion model. Cleveland is regarded as one of the first Black supermodels and one of the most influential runway models of the 1970s. Known for her expressive, dance-like runway style, she has been referred to as "the Josephine Baker of the international runways."

Cleavland was born in New York City, the daughter of painter Lady Bird Cleveland, and began modeling as a teenager in 1966. She rose to prominence in the early 1970s and was among a group of Black American models who found greater opportunities in Paris than in the United States. She participated in the historic Battle of Versailles fashion show in 1973. Cleveland was also a member of the "Halstonettes," the troupe of models closely associated with designer Halston.

During the mid-1970s, Cleveland and her fiancé, model Sterling St. Jacques, became one of New York's most celebrated social couples. Dubbed the "hottest couple in America" by People magazine, they were fixtures of the city's nightclub scene. Following her marriage to photographer Paul van Ravenstein in 1982, Cleveland reduced her modeling commitments to raise a family. She operated a modeling agency in Milan for several years and has continued to work as a model.

Early life Cleveland was born in New York City in 1950 to Johnny Johnston, a jazz saxophonist of Irish and Swedish ancestry, and Lady Bird Cleveland, an artist of African-American, Native-American and Irish-Scottish ancestry.

Some of her earliest photographs as a youngster were taken by Carl Van Vechten, who was among her mother's coterie of artist friends. Cleveland noted in her book Walking with the Muses: A Memoir that her first photographs were taken when she was fourteen by Van Vechten's friend Adelaide Passen, one of the first women employed as a press photographer in the United States.

Career

Early modeling career 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 to Carrie Donovan, fashion editor at Vogue. Donovan, impressed by Cleveland's fashionable clothing, invited her to tour the Vogue offices and the magazine subsequently published a feature on her as an up-and-coming young designer.

Following her tour with Ebony, in which she experienced acts of violent racism in the Southern United States, and briefly became a muse to Salvador Dalí. She made her first appearance as a fashion model in American Vogue in June 1970, photographed by Berry Berenson and the same year, appeared in the very first issue of Essence magazine. Despite her early success, Cleveland grew disillusioned with America and what she perceived to be its racist attitudes towards Black models. 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.

After Beverly Johnson became the first black model to appear on the cover of American Vogue in August 1974, Cleveland returned to the United States and continued her modeling career. In the 1970s, she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair, Interview, Essence, Harper's, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Wear Daily, L'Officiel, The Sunday Times Magazine, GQ, Halston called Cleveland "the greatest walking mannequin in the business."

During the mid to late 1970s, Cleveland and her fiancé Sterling St. Jacques were a famous dancing couple.

Return to modeling 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 at Paris Fashion Week. In 2010, she appeared as a guest judge on the reality television series and interactive competition America's Next Top Model.

In 2013, she made an appearance on The Face, a modeling-themed reality television show hosted by model Naomi Campbell.

In 2014, she walked the runway for Moschino's Spring Collection in Milan and appeared on the cover of Numéro Russia, shot and styled by Tom Ford. In 2015, she returned to New York Fashion Week to walk the runway for Zac Posen, who also hired her and her daughter Anna to showcase his June 2015 resort collection, appeared in Vogue Japan and appeared in an ad campaign for Barneys New York. Both Cleveland and her daughter Anna were chosen for a 2015 ad campaign for French multinational high fashion house Lanvin.

In 2016, she walked the runway for H&M during Paris Fashion Week and appeared on the cover of Vogue Italia with her family. She also appeared in editorials for Harper's Bazaar Japan and Vogue Spain. In February 2019, at age 68, she walked the runway for Hellessy and Naeem Khan at New York Fashion Week with former Halstonettes Karen Bjornson and Alva Chinn, and in March of the same year, she walked the runway along with Beverly Johnson and Grace Jones at Paris Fashion Week for Tommy Hilfiger. In September 2019, she returned to the runway 6 months after being diagnosed with colon cancer, walking for the 2020 Spring Season shows for designers Nicole Miller and Chiara Boni.

Personal life Cleveland had a six-year on-and-off affair with actor Warren Beatty. She was engaged to dancer and model Sterling St. Jacques. In 1978, she married model Martin Snaric; the two later divorced. with whom she has two children, Noel van Ravenstein (born 1984) and Anna Cleveland van Ravenstein (born 1989), who also became a fashion model. Cleveland is a devotee of Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, the current spiritual head of the Siddha Yoga path. She made a full recovery after 12 rounds of chemotherapy and had her colon removed.

Cleveland lives with her husband near Morristown, New Jersey.

Legacy Cleveland is recognized as one of the first Black supermodels. Fashion editor André Leon Talley described her as "the all-time superstar model" in an article for the July 1980 issue of Ebony magazine. Talley also referred to Cleveland as "the first Black supermodel, the Josephine Baker of the international runways" in his 2003 published memoir A.L.T.: A Memoir.

In popular culture In 2010, Cleveland appeared in the documentary Ultrasuede, In Search of Halston.

In 2012, Cleveland appeared in two fashion documentaries, Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' About Face: Supermodels Then and Now.

In 2025, Cleveland was interviewed for the upcoming documentary Gloss And Grit: The Man Who Made Art Pop about the life and work of artist Richard Bernstein.