The longtime Times editor turned overlooked space into a platform for revolution
Patricia Peterson didn’t just style fashion — she shaped the lens through which we understood it. As The New York Times fashion editor from 1957 to 1977, she worked from what was then considered the paper’s women’s floor, the ninth, designated for the “Four Fs”: Food, Fashions, Family, and Furnishings. “It was as if we kept the measles up on the ninth floor,” a former colleague recalled. Yet within that overlooked enclave, Peterson made fashion newsworthy, feminist, and fearlessly creative.
Working alongside her husband, Swedish-American photographer Gösta “Gus” Peterson, Patricia brought kinetic, unconventional storytelling to the Times’ pages. Their shoots often featured unknown women in motion, defying the era’s static ideals. Together, they produced the first “Fashions of the Times ” cover featuring Naomi Sims, helping to redefine who could be a face of American fashion. She championed now-iconic talents early in their careers, including Diane Arbus, Saul Leiter, Hiro, and a young illustrator named Andy Warhol.
But Peterson’s brilliance extended beyond her eye. She sensed cultural shifts before they crested. In a 1967 Twiggy shoot, she declared, “Black will dominate the future,” anticipating the all-black wardrobe of the modern city. She elevated ballet flats, Courrèges, and Comme des Garçons years before they became commercial mainstays.
Later, as vice president at Henri Bendel, she continued to merge editorial instinct with retail imagination, introducing European designers and curating displays with a daring, artistic spirit.
Patricia Peterson was more than a pioneer. She was a quiet revolutionary. From the margins of a newsroom that rarely welcomed women in leadership, she helped shape the center of American fashion. She is survived by her daughter, Annika, and her son, Jan — both of whom carry the legacy of a woman who lived with boundless curiosity and style.