Pat Cleveland
| Pat Cleveland | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 23, 1950 New York City New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | High School of Art and Design |
| Occupation | Model |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Martin Snaric (m. 1978–82) Paul van Ravenstein (m. 1982) |
| Children | Noel van Ravenstein (b. 1984) Anna Cleveland van Ravenstein (b.1989) |
| Modeling information | |
| Hair color | Dark Brown |
| Eye color | Brown |
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 to Johnny Johnston, a white jazz saxophonist of Irish and Swedish ancestry, and Lady Bird Cleveland, an artist of African-American and Native-American ancestry. Her parents separated when she was young and she was raised by her mother in Harlem. She studied performing arts at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and studied design at New York's High School of Art and Design and hoped to become a fashion designer. 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'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 Carrie Donovan, an assistant 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. The article led to her being approached by Ebony who asked Cleveland if she would perform as model for their 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.
Following her tour with Ebony, in which she claimed to experience acts of violent racism in the Southern United States, Cleveland caught the attention designers such as Jacques Tiffeau and Stephen Burrows. At age 18 she was signed to Ford Models after designer Oleg Cassini recommended her to Eileen Ford.
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