Studio 54 Queen Pat Cleveland Talks Fame, Missoni, and Her New Book

Supermodel Pat Cleveland at her book release party in June. Photo: Getty Images

Most book tours don’t include Milan Fashion Week…but most book tours aren’t for Pat Cleveland. The 66-year-old New Yorker was a Halston muse, a Warhol collaborator, and a civil rights advocate in America and abroad.

Now Cleveland’s a worldwide author, as her autobiography Walking with Muses hits bookstores in Europe. The book details getting scouted on the subway, working for Vogue, meeting Salvador Dali, and more.

We grabbed the Studio 54 goddess minutes before her daughter, Anna Cleveland, strutted by in a space knit slip dress. (Because that’s a thing now…)

Lauren Hutton and Naomi Campbell have hit the catwalk this week. But you get to sit and watch!

It’s because I’m here for my book. That’s my big job right now, making sure the book gets out there.

The book spans your whole career. When did you start working for Missoni?

Way back in 1970. They decided America needed to get shaken up with more color, and they got me to come along. It was fabulous. Everyone was obsessed with Missoni, and the movie stars started wearing it. When you showed up at a party wearing one of their knits, everybody knew what it was.

Pat Cleveland models for Vogue in 1973. Photo: Bob Stone/CondeNast/Getty

Now you’re sitting with the entire Missoni family at this show.

They basically are family at this point, because we’ve worked together for so many years… The first time I met [designer] Angela Missoni, I think she was twelve? I was in [her mother, Missoni founder] Rosita’s studio getting fitted, and she came in to watch… I could tell she was a budding designer. She really had the eye.

I should point out that lying underneath your front row seat is Johnny, their family bulldog…

That’s how you know it’s the best seat in the house.

You’re having a book party tonight. Can you give us some party advice?

Sure.

How do you have fun at your own party? Don’t you feel pressure to make sure it’s perfect?

I see what you mean… I personally don’t feel pressure, but if you do, maybe look at it this way: if people take time from their own lives to celebrate you, it’s out of love. They love you. So come together, enjoy each other, and have fun. That’s the only way.

That’s an amazing sentiment. Can you run for president?

[Laughing] No, not today! But I love you for asking.

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