Tatjana Patitz, one of the famous elite supermodels who appeared on magazine covers in the 1980s and 90s, has died at the age of 56.
Fabian Bimmer/AP
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Fabian Bimmer/AP
Tatjana Patitz, one of the famous elite supermodels who appeared on magazine covers in the 1980s and 90s, has died at the age of 56.
Fabian Bimmer/AP
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Tatjana Patitz, one of the famous elite supermodels who appeared on magazine covers in the 1980s and 90s and appeared in Music video for “Freedom! ’90” by George Michaelpassed away at the age of 56.
Patitz’s death in the Santa Barbara, California area was confirmed by her New York agent, Corinne Nicolas, at Model CoOp. Nicolas said the cause was illness, but gave no further details.
Patitz, born in Germany, raised in Sweden and later established in California, is known as part of the elite group of “original” supermodels, appearing in Michael’s videos alongside Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford.
She’s a favorite of fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who accentuated her natural beauty in his famous 1988 photo, “White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu” and on the cover of British Vogue in 1990 – leading to Michael including the group in his lip-syncing video, according to Vogue magazine.
The magazine quoted the magazine’s global editorial director, Anna Wintour, as saying that Patitz “has always been a symbol of European luxury, much like Romy Schneider-meet-Monica Vitti. She gets less attention. much more than his peers – more mysterious, more mature, more unattainable – and that has its own charm.”
In a 2006 interview, Patitz suggested that the golden age of supermodels was over.
“There was a real era, and the reason it happened was because the charm was put into it,” she is quoted as saying in Prestige Hong Kong magazine. “Now celebrities and actresses have taken the throne, and the models are completely in the backseat.”
She also notes that models from her time have healthier physiques.
“Healthy women, not skinny little models, nobody knows their names anymore,” says Patitz.
