{"id":142352,"date":"2022-03-08T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=142352"},"modified":"2022-03-08T16:11:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T21:11:32","slug":"the-history-of-models-as-muses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/the-history-of-models-as-muses\/","title":{"rendered":"For International Women’s Day, A Historical Look Back at Models as Muses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The model as a muse feels in modern times symbiotic to the design process but wasn’t naturally the case throughout fashion history. The general model policy was usually “be seen and not heard” until the mid-century 60s boom that provided many of the historical figures we now know as essential to the industry. Designer, writer, and cultural critic Jos\u00e9 Criales-Unzueta has gone in-depth on model and designer history numerous times via his Instagram account @eljosecriales<\/a> and bi-weekly podcast on fashion and culture called Biased with Jos\u00e9 Criales-Unzueta<\/a>. Born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia, and currently based in Brooklyn, NY, Jos\u00e9 serves as a rising authority on fashion’s documented past, present, and future while working as both a ready-to-wear and handbag designer. Oh, he’s even in the Gossip Girl cinematic universe<\/a>. Here for International Women’s Day, he gives his curatorial perspective on five of fashion’s muses and how they evolved from background characters to the stars of the show.<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Jos\u00e9 Criales-Unzueta<\/a>
\nIntroduction | Managing Editor \u2013 Irene Ojo-Felix<\/a>
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It was the father of haute couture, Charles Frederick Worth who first hired Marie Vernet in the 1850s to appear at Parisian social gatherings dressed in his collections. Having served as both model and muse to Worth for the fashions of the many women he dressed, including Empress Eug\u00e9nie and the ladies of the court of Napoleon III, Vernet (who later married Worth) is considered to be one of the first professional fashion models. Since then, the idea of the muse has evolved and transformed into what it is now.<\/p>\n

Early on models, especially in France, were seen as quiet, utilitarian figures \u2013 true mannequins<\/em>. Paul Poiret, in fact, was once quoted telling a reviewer at a live-model presentation to \u201cnot speak to the girls, they are not there.\u201d Models have since become personalities, vessels to not only carry fashion but embody a designer\u2019s fantasy. They are now figures working in their own right as tastemakers in the industry, as integral to fashion as the fashion itself. <\/p>\n

Muses serve as more than faces of brands, they also symbolize the ideal of beauty of their time. Think of women like Twiggy in the \u201860s, Gia Carangi in the late \u201870s and early \u201880s, or practically any Supermodel in the 90s\u2013especially the big six (Kate, Naomi, Linda, Cindy, Claudia, and Christy)\u2013; these women embodied the zeitgeist and were as telling of the beauty principles of their time as the fashion they wore.<\/p>\n

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PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 10: American fashion designer Roy Halston and Pat Cleveland during his presentation as part of his new collection for JC Penney with his Halstonettes models while interviewed by Jacqueline Claude the Agence France Presse fashion editor on March 10, 1983 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pat Cleveland<\/a><\/strong>
\nHarlem-born Cleveland\u2019s model career started in 1966 when the assistant to Carrie Donovan \u2013then fashion editor at Vogue\u2013 noticed her on a subway platform and invited her to tour the Vogue offices. She had hoped to become a fashion designer, and Vogue published a feature on her as an up-and-coming designer. This led to Ebony inviting her to work as a model for Ebony Fashion Fair tour, which she accepted, and the rest is history. <\/p>\n

Soon enough Pat was working with the greatest, including Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Steven Meisel, and Andy Warhol. Over the years, though, she grew disillusioned with America\u2019s treatment of people of color and despite her success, couldn’t get on the cover of Vogue. \u201cThe photographers were all very upset because they\u2019d shoot covers of me and sometimes the editors said: \u2018Wow! This is the cover!\u2019 Then they\u2019d replace me with a caucasian girl. I just got fed up,\u201d she told The Guardian in 2020. She left for Paris in 1971 \u2013at the suggestion of illustrator Antonio Lopez\u2013 and made a vow to not return to the U.S. until there was a Black model on the cover of American Vogue.<\/p>\n

In Paris, she modeled for Yves Saint Laurent, Thierry Mugler, and Christian Dior, but more defining was her relationship with Karl Lagerfeld. She met Karl and became a muse and house model at Chlo\u00e9, a relationship that lasted several years while she lived in Paris and long after that. The most iconic moment of her career, though, is arguably the 1973 Battle of Versailles, where five French designers (Marc Bohan, Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, and Emanuel Ungaro) faced off against five American designers (Halston, Anne Klein, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Stephen Burrows) in a fashion showdown. Pat was one of 36 models who were cast for the show and also one of 10 Black models, which was unprecedented for the time. In 1974 when Beverly Johnson became the first Black model to cover American Vogue, Pat returned to the U.S. As one of the legendary Halstonettes and a fixture at Studio 54, she embodied the glamour of the 70s like few others.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Joe Gaffney (@thejoegaffney)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n