Tatjana Patitz, one of the original “supermodels,” has died. She was 56. In her long career, she was a frequent cover model for Vogue and skyrocketed to fame in the ’80s and ’90s.
Vogue confirmed that Patitz had died “recently.” Her agent, Corrine Nichols, confirmed Patitz’s passing at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., due to breast cancer.
Famed photographer Peter Lindbergh’s famous 1990 British Vogue cover shoot of Patitz, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, and Naomi Campbell, is said to serve as the “birth certificate” of the supermodel era.
Patitz enjoyed many high points in her career — notably her cover work with Vogue and starring in George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” music video with models Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista.
Patitz also made several cameo appearances in music videos, films and television shows.
Tatjana grew up in Sweden. At 17, she entered a modeling contest in Stockholm. Her third-place prize was a trip to Paris and a short-term modeling contract. Her career blossomed, and within two years, she enjoyed international fame.
Anna Wintour, the chief content officer of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue, remembered Patitz, writing: “Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti.”
Wintour added: “She was far less visible than her peers — more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable — and that had its own appeal.”
In an interview with Vogue in 1988, Patitz said: “People always said that I looked special; that I didn’t look like anyone else, and I was going to make it because of that.” The article was titled “Tatjana: Million Dollar Beauty.”
The Peter Lindbergh Foundation paid tribute to Patitz, writing:
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Tatjana Patitz. … We would like to salute Tatjana’s kindness, inner beauty, and outstanding intelligence. Our thoughts go to her loved ones and particularly [her son] Jonah. She will be immensely missed.”
Vogue magazine described Patitz as “the quietest and perhaps the most intense of the original supermodels,” noting that Patitz enjoyed solitude and the beauty of nature.
“There were glamorous moments, but it was exhausting,” Patitz told the Guardian in a 2009 interview. “The low points were having to travel so much and being exhausted. I always thought that [fashion and modeling] wasn’t who I was; it was what I did. It didn’t define me. Living out here and coming back to this place was like a sigh of relief in a sense.”
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