Walking into the Box at 5pm this Monday was the last thing I expected to be doing in 2026—at least in the top ten, but I had very good reasons to be there, both personally and professionally. It wasn't The Box in its infamous form with a debaucherous spectacle unfolding in front of my eyes. Instead, something quieter and more intentional was taking shape. Below the dim lights, amidst the smokey room, and between the many moving parts, a soundcheck was in full motion. The room wasn't necessarily silent aside from the singing—there were the sounds of bartenders setting up, assistants chatting, and the occasional music cut to give notes—but I felt the need to tip-toe, whisper introductions, and keep my eyes glued to the stage.
On stage, legendary model Pat Cleveland was singing “Josephine,” a song written especially for her by her musical director Maurice Lynch, illuminating with joy, and paying tribute to Josephine Baker—her husband actually mentioned that he has an album of photos of Cleveland portraying Baker, her idol, through dress or performance throughout her career. Between takes, she would chime in with the occasional creative note or speak French crew in their native tongue. She was rehearsing for fashion brand Dodiee’s out of the box New York Fashion Week presentation: a cabaret-style show headed by Cleveland with a red velvet curtain ultimately pulled back to reveal dancers with slicked back hair in sheer, leather, and polka-dot looks in rich colors.
I was there to interview Cleveland before she fully transformed into Josephine Baker—that’s the professional part. The personal part is a little more complicated, but put simply: Cleveland was one of the first Black supermodels to hit the mainstream and she didn’t get there by dimming her light or trying not to occupy space—she got there by openly and freely expressing joy and dancing down the catwalk.
Ahead, I sit down with the trailblazing multi-hyphenate and pick her brain about fashion, performing, and nights spent sleeping on Karl Lagerfeld’s floor.
How did you go from modeling to performing cabaret?
"Well, I think the fun thing is the opportunity. The brand asked 'would you like to do the cabaret?' And I said yes, because I'm a child at heart. I want to sing and dance and have fun—especially now, I need to just sing about something. And this is Black History Month and Josephine Baker was a hero. She adopted 13 children and she was a war hero spy and she helped people survive, so I think she should be honored with a song. My friend Maurice Lynch and I both loved Josephine Baker, so he wrote this song for me to sing about her."
How are you feeling ahead of tonight's performance?
"This venue is so much like what Josephine would have sang in. The atmosphere is rich with beautiful fashion and the story of this place and the kind of energy that cabaret gives. It's just people performing little numbers enjoying themselves. I think we need to find some joy and music is joy."
How did your iconic runway walk come about?
"I think it came from the fact that I always wanted to be a dancer and I love dancing. When I first started, there was not a lot of movement on the pasarela, which was not actually a pasarela. Basically, you would do a show in a house of a designer and it was very quiet, like a long salon. It was very quiet and nobody danced. Here in America, we had so much good music and I was always dancing. They said, 'well, can you do that on the runway?' I said, 'sure'. So I started dancing down the runway and singing on the runway because I was so happy to be dressed up so beautifully.
How would you describe the relationship between fashion theater for you personally?
"For me personally, I value the people I work with. I find that fashion is such an art. Every stitch is someone's life to me. All the people who sew and create and fantasize about dressing well. It's a very dignified thing. I find fashion is very dignified because of the fact that you put your clothes on and you respect yourself and you'll become the child that's taken care of. And either you can dress yourself bright or down or low or dress yourself just to protect yourself. But either way, fashion is not something that's so tight that it doesn't belong to everyone. And now it belongs to everyone in the way that it's useful and it's colorful sometimes. And sometimes it's so extravagant and fabulous. You almost cannot imagine how fabulous it is. And if you have one of those dresses on, it's like you died and went to heaven."
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
"Yes, I pray that it'll go well. I hope I'm going to get through it and make everyone feel good. And that's the important thing, because it's not just about me. That's the great thing about this kind of work. It's a lovely chaos."
Do you tend to get nervous?
"I'm so excited and so nervous. When you're singing, it's different than listening to music. I have to stop myself from listening to the music because music makes you relax. When you're performing music, you're working like an athlete. You're not there to listen to the music, you're there to make the music."
What do you love about Dodiee as a brand?
"Oh, well, it fits nicely. It's very young looking and also the fabrics are very interesting. Tonight I have this silver outfit. And I think they do something original with the body. They put it in sort of a nice little package."
Do does the feeling that performing gives you compare to how you felt when you were modeling?
"Well, it's all the same whether you're writing, painting, or modeling—it's a spirit. Modeling is definitely about being a human being in a package and singing is about being a human in a song. Everything's got rhythm and energy."
Do you think the modelling industry has become more inclusive?"Of course. It always has been in a certain private way because all the painters have always used every color on the palette. But when it comes to business, it's about politics, the season, and what they're pushing. It's much bigger than you can imagine. It's an international business and it just depends on what is the fad of the moment. I used to own a modeling agency and then every season we had a different color on the palette come in because that was representative of the political situation. The business part is much more complicated than the beauty part. The beauty part is naturally pretty girls and naturally talented artists, and they don't care so much about all the other stuff. And then the two come together and they compliment each other. Yes, diversity is coming and going depending on the season."
Can you tell me about how you were discovered in New York?
"I was just lucky one day walking through the subway and this lady from Vogue was Carrie Donovan's assistant. She saw me because I make my own clothes. I used to stay home and sew every night before school because I had to have a new outfit everyday. The bus had broken down that day, so I ended up in the subway station in spats, a black and white checker raincoat, and mini skirt before mini skirts came up. I looked very mod. She followed me and asked who I was and about the clothes. She said 'I'm interested in your outfit, can you come up to Vogue and show us your clothes?' I did and then somehow they pushed me into a shoot."
What's your relationship like with art and creativity?
"I went to art school and everything is art. Everything to me is art. Breathing is an art. Singing is an art. Writing is an art. Living is an art. The people around me are all artists. I am so blessed. It's like a little tribe meeting. Every time you do a show or a fashion season, it's very tribal. Everyone coming together, showing off like peacocks in front of each other. I'm either painting, writing, singing, modeling, or mothering. Or grandmothering. I cook too, by the way."
What's your relationship with fashion like nowadays?
"I think I have a very delicious relationship with fashion because I have time for my family and I have time for my friends. I have time to do special bookings and I'm so blessed after all of these decades. I can't believe it. Everyday I wake up and say 'what? Somebody loves me.' There's a lot of people out there who don't have these opportunities, but maybe if they see I can do it, maybe they can do it too. That's what I value."
What are your beauty routines and self-care practices?
"Wash your face, take your vitamins, do some yoga, breathe, touch a tree, find a a four leaf clover. I found a couple of them last week, I can't believe it. It was in London in the middle of winter and I found some four leaf clovers and. put them in a frame. Just believe in something and follow it. Beauty is a mental choice. I mean, you're going to get wrinkles, right? Just like a tree, but what's wrong with a tree? I don't see anything wrong with a tree. A tree is a beautiful thing. So think like a tree, have deep roots. That's my beauty routine. Stand in front of a tree and be a tree. That's a good beauty routine."
Can you tell me more about how you ended up sleeping on Karl Lagerfeld's floor in Paris?
"It was a tiny apartment and we were all new artists. Antonio Lopez was doing the illustrations and i was there with Donna Jordan, Corey Tippin, and Joe McDonald. Karl needed models and Tony said, 'Come to Paris. You can stay in Karl's apartment with me.' I said 'I'm on my way', and I bought myself a first class ticket and saved up and took some French lessons. I went and I ended up in a sleeping bag. That's how those puffer coats came out because we had no coats that winter and wrapped ourselves in our sleeping bags. We were toe to nose and nose to toe, but when we woke up, we were in Paris. It didn't matter. As long as you can be somewhere you love to be."
What's one thing you wish you could tell your younger self?
"I've been really working on this. I forgot to tell myself that when you grow up and are in your own hands, you are still the child of yourself. I would tell my younger self that you have to take care of yourself like you are your own child. So be kind."
