Pat Cleveland

In the seventies, the demand for black models within the fashion industry was scarce as fashion designers and modeling agencies preferred a particular mainstream image during this era. While the Civil Rights Movement was expanding, the same could not be said for the recognition of women of color in the racially-exclusive popular fashion publications and runway shows. Eventually, the racial boundaries slowly began to dissipate while black models were given the opportunity to demonstrate that the appearance of beauty, elegance and style in the world of fashion did not exclusively belong to only one culture defined by its skin tone.
Pat Cleveland, one of the first African-American models to bring racial diversity to the runway modeling scene, was first discovered in 1967 on a
While wearing an fashion outfit originally designed by herself, Johnson's aspirations of becoming a successful fashion designer made such a impressive statement on the Vogue editor that the magazine offered to publish a feature story on her. Following this publication, she was approached by Ebony with an offer to perform as a live mannequin for the Ebony Fashion Fair annual national runway tour. Although modeling looked promising, she was met with a dose of racism while on tour in the southern states of the United States, including a confrontation with the Klu Klux Klan. This prompted Johnson to relocate to Paris, France, where she performed runway modeling for well-known fashion industry designers, such as Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent and many more. By the start of the 1970s, Pat Cleveland was doing more than making a name for herself; she was redefining the racial constrictions placed on African-American models in the fashion industry in every way possible. Beverly Johnson was the first African-American supermodel to break the barriers for black women in the fashion