Model legend Pat Cleveland strikes a pose in V Magazine 144, October, 2023. Oliver Volquardsenstyles the now 73-year-old global daughter of diversity who is part African American, part Cherokee, part Swedish and part Irish.
V’s John Koppwrites that “André Leon Talley once dubbed her “the Josephine Baker of international runways.”’
On the topic of moral courage, in 1971, the elder Cleveland moved to France and refused to live in America again until US Vogue featured a Black model on its cover. After Beverly Johnson landed a cover in 1974, Cleveland returned to New York.
In the Harper’s Bazaar Spain April 2023 fashion story ‘Romper Barreras’ [‘Breaking Barriers’], Pat Cleveland and Anna Cleveland are styled by Inmaculada Jiménez in images by Vladimir Martí [IG] for ‘The Picasso’ issue.
A Model Icon’s Life Turned Inside Out in March 2019
In Spring 2019, legendary AfricanAmerican model Pat Cleveland was diagnosed with colon cancer. The then 68-year-old model icon rushed to the American Hospital in Paris, after walking the Tommy Hilfiger and Zendaya show in very early March.
Resulting from the emergency surgery in Paris on March 23, Cleveland’s colon cancer was detected. Anna Cleveland, Pat’s daughter, who is also a model and performer, was living in Paris and able to care for her mother during the crisis.
4 Years Later, Pat Cleveland Is Thriving
In a miracle of miracles moment, Pat Cleveland is thriving four years out from her life-threatening medical event.
Colorectal cancer disproportionately affects the Black community, where the rates are the highest of any racial/ethnic group in the US. African Americans are about 20% more likely to get colorectal cancer and about 40% more likely to die from it than most other groups.
