Pat Cleveland

Patricia Cleveland was born June 23, 1950 she was one of the first Black models within the fashion industry to achieve prominence as b0th a runway and print model. Her career as a model began in 1966 when she was discovered by Carrie Donovan, an assistant fashion editor at Vogue. Donovan was so impressed by Cleveland’s fashionable clothing, which she designed herself, that she invited her to tour Vogue&rsqi; offices. Vogue published a feature on Cleveland as an up-and-coming young designer. The article led to her being approached by Ebony who asked her to perform as model for their Fashion Fair national runway tour.

Following her tour with Ebony, in which she claimed to experience acts of violent racism in the South (which she describes in the video below). At age 18 Patricia signed with Ford Models. Cleveland was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s and she is considered one of the first African-American “Super Models.”s