P A T . The legendary Pat Cleveland, perhaps the worlds first black Supermodel, is both an icon and legend. A career beginning in the mid 60s ( after being scouted by the legendary Vogue editor Carrie Donovan on a New York subway ), she abandoned plans of becoming a designer in favour of becoming a model. She has been muse to many of the industries greats, Yves, Karl, Halston and Antonio Lopez, amongst others, and continues to inspire designers today ( Zac Posen, Jeremy Scott and Tom Ford ). Most famous for her camp runway antics and showmanship, Pat was one of the fashion industries most beloved. Beloved as she was, it was a tough industry trying to overcome racism, leading to her moving to Paris in the late 60s, vowing not to return to America until a black model was on the cover of Vogue. Europe embraced Pat though, where designers like Yves were championing girls of colour and diverse ethnic backgrounds ( she returned to America after Beverly Johnson became the first black woman to score the cover of Vogue in 1974 ). With a big infectious personality she was of a generation of models who were up there with movie stars, artists, singers and socialites, first name bases, partying at hot spots like Studio 54, allowing models to become celebrities in there own right ( something that would happen again in the early 90s with "The Supermodels"). At 66, Pat is still going strong, still scoring covers and campaigns, and still guest starring on the runways ( alongside her gorgeous daughter and model Anna Cleveland ), proving well and truly age is no barrier when you have true beauty. #modelmonday#patcleveland#icon#legend#supermodel#halston#vogue#gq#yvessainlaurent#karllagerfeld #chanel#chloe#tomford#blackdontcrack#carriedonovan#studio54#blogger#fashionblogger#the_bearded_blogger_
