Former Fashion Editor Patricia Peterson Dead at 99

Patricia Peterson, 99, a pioneering fashion editor and former Henri Bendel executive, died Sunday at her home in New York City.

Throughout her lifetime, she often teamed up with her photographer husband Gösta for shoots that featured relatively unknown women in motion instead of standard fashion models standing still. From 1957 to 1977 during her run as The New York Times’ fashion editor, Peterson brought to the fore such photographers as Cecil Beaton, Guy Bourdin, Diane Arbus, Saul Leiter, Francesco Scavullo, Hiro and others. She also incorporated the illustrations of the then unproven Andy Warhol in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Her husband, who was known as “Gus,” was a lion in the pantheon of fashion photographers and helped to give such talents as Arthur Elgort and Deborah Turbeville their starts. “Pat” Peterson also groomed trendsetters like Carrie Donovan and Bernadine Morris in their fashion reporter days.

The couple was most proud of featuring Naomi Sims on the cover of the Aug. 27, 1967, edition of Fashions of the Times magazine, according to their daughter Annika Peterson. The Black model was working for the fashion designer Halston in his showroom when they first saw her and both knew immediately that she was the woman they had been looking for. While many power couples rely on 50-50 partnerships to thrive, Annika Peterson said, “It wasn’t 50-50 with my parents. It was more like 100-100.”

The Petersons’ all-in enthusiasm stemmed from their interest in art, politics, music, architecture, travel and more, as well as having not only a keen interest in others, but also acute listening skills. Their originality in the studio or on the street reflected how they challenged fashion norms and questioned societal issues. Interested in people, art, jazz, food, nature, among other subjects, a constant search for discovery was how they lived their lives, said Annika Peterson, the owner of the Turn galley in New York City.

“Even if something didn’t initially interest my mom, she would still be open to explore. She told me that Geoffrey Beene took her to a baseball game (even though she really didn’t care for sports.)” Annika Peterson said. “I remember her describing the sweet summer air, the night lights and how the players were like dancers in the field. She and my father always found romance in simple things. They were both on a constant search with a never-ending keen eye. When people were with them, you really felt that union.”

In 1967, for what was the model “Twiggy’s” first U.S. shoot, Peterson and her husband had only 30 minutes and one outfit and one hat to work with. The end result was a composite of a closeup of her face and her kohl-lined eyes, and the model outstretched on the ground dressed all in black. Peterson’s copy read, “Black is back and elfin Twiggy wears it.…Black will dominate the future.”

That type of foresight would be shared with readers decades before all-black wardrobes would become common with urbanites in major cities. At The Times, Peterson helped to popularize ballet flats, strapless swimwear and Courrèges, among other designers. When she first took on the lead fashion editor post in 1957, Peterson headed up a team of 12 women and oversaw shoots for the 1,000-plus fashion photos that were featured annually in the daily and Sunday papers. She reveled in traveling as a working woman to cover the European collections, her son Jan said.  

“Pat thought of herself as a pioneer, who was very proud of being a woman at The New York Times, who was also independently minded and not so commercially minded,” her son said. “She was also very proud of working with Gus, who was definitely an outsider kind of eccentric in the fashion world.“

Peterson had joined The New York Times in December of 1956 as an assistant editor in the Food, Fashions, Family and Furnishings section. In time, she was considered to be one of the tastemakers amidst such forces as Diana Vreeland and Eugenia Sheppard, Peterson chaired the committee that would produce the showing of the 1964 Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award jury. The Coty Awards were a precursor to the CFDA Awards. Peterson’s inkling to be where the action was surfaced in 1967, when Yves Saint Laurent chose to show his collection to the media a month after retailers saw it. She told WWD, “Our job is to be where the news is happening. I believe St. Laurent will lose by the press ban, and [he] won’t get as much publicity as Balenciaga and Givenchy receive.”

Patricia Peterson first met the Swedish American that she would later marry at a cocktail party in Westhampton, N.Y. She noticed that the well-dressed “Gus” had taken it upon himself to do a little gardening in the homeowner’s yard. He had been camping with fellow photographer Fernand Fonssagrives, whose wife Lisa was a Swedish model and artist. Patricia Peterson told WWD in 2023, “I noticed him and thought, ‘That’s a strange thing. A man is watering the flowers.’ He was very much into nature — the Swedes particularly are.” Another curiosity was the Volkswagen Beetle — a rarity in the U.S. at that time — in which Peterson drove her back to Manhattan. The couple married in 1956. “Gus” died in 2017.

Born Patricia Louis in Chicago, she attended Northwestern University, where she studied art history and served as the fashion editor of the student newspaper, the Purple Parrot. After graduation in 1948, she joined Marshall Fields in its fashion merchandising department. Two years later, the dark-haired creative relocated to New York City. Taking the advice of her fashion editor friend Nonnie Moore, she joined Mademoiselle as a fashion associate and worked her way up to Mademoiselle’s fashion and merchandise editor. Years later, she would become vice president of advertising, fashion and promotion from 1977 to 1989.

Speaking about the 2023 retrospective of “Gus” Peterson’s work at Deborah Bell Photographs, Patricia Peterson said, “I don’t want to sound so boastful, but I am amazed how original and unorthodox his photos are, because they are very tasteful. There is nothing vulgar about them. They could run today and look just as fresh and elegant.”

She also sparked fashion trends and introduced shoppers to European labels through her job at Henri Bendel. Her innovativeness could also be seen in the widow displays at Henri Bendel, where the retailer’s leader at that time, Geraldine Stutz, was known to be revolutionary. The publicist Marion Greenberg recalled how in the early 1980s, when she started working with her first fashion client, Comme des Garcons, “Pat immediately ‘got it,’ and organized a fashion shoot with her husband for an advertisement for the store, which was the first to carry the clothing,” Greenberg said.

In the late 1980s, she responded to Jil Sander’s collection in a similar way, according to Greenberg. “Pat was the real deal and she understood the designers that I was working with were special, unique and authentic. Those times were of another era that was very hands-on and very personal. I cherish those memories,” Greenberg said. 

Peterson is survived by her daughter Annika and son Jan.