MOTHER co-founder and president Lela Becker welcomed icon, trailblazer and supermodel Pat Cleveland to her home for a magical afternoon of conversation. Between stories of Nina Simone, Paris in the 70s and her friendship with the Picasso family, Pat reflected on fashion, freedom and why getting dressed is one of life's greatest art forms. Read an excerpt below, and watch the video above for the full conversation. 

Pat Cleveland wears The Scarf It Up in Full Bouquet, The Heyday Hustler Roller in Hodgepodge, The Heyday Cropped Jacket in Hodgepodge and The Bestie in White

Pat: People sometimes say, "Oh, fashion is so frivolous." But we wear clothing to protect ourselves against the elements. You're going to put on a scarf so your neck stays nice and warm. You're going to put on a little jacket so your back doesn't get cold. What's so frivolous about taking care of yourself in a happy place? 

Lela: It's an art form. To dress yourself well.

Pat: Yeah. It is an art form. It's a painting. They always say paint your day. Yeah, I paint my face. I paint my lips. I paint my eyes. I paint my canvas when painting. It's all the same. You know what I love about the fashion world? We're like birds flying around the earth. And we start out in one place and we all land and we have our collections with us, things that we've collected, like our ideas and where we've been. And there have been so many of us and so many have come and gone, but we all bring a little bit of the history of what was before us.

Lela: Absolutely.

Pat: You need nourishment through a group of people in fashion. You find your own little family, like you do with MOTHER. You can be with creative people and have your own little tribe… This look that I have on for you. What does it symbolize? Peace… the 60s. In that time, the guru, Satchidananda, came to Martha's Vineyard to the [Jimi Hendrix] concert. Satchidananda was the guru. He was my first guru. He’s from India, and someone brought him over, someone from California, very famous, Ram Dass. And he was there and thousands of teenagers started meditating… And that started that whole peace movement.

Lela: The people who create the clothes create the energy of what’s in the clothing. And it makes a huge difference. 

Pat: I was brought up in art. You have to have a certain kind of consciousness to be in the arts. I can’t afford my life to be wasted on things that are not in that vein.

Lela: It’s joyful to wear clothes you feel good in.

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