Tatjana Patitz, one of the supermodels who shone in the 90s, has died

tatjana patitzone of the founders of Supermodels who made his mark in the nineties, died this Wednesday at the age of 56. This was confirmed by the modeling agency linked to the German actress.

“Tatjana passed away this morning in California,” said Corinne Nicolas, founder and head of New York-based modeling agency The Model CoOp.

Patitz was part of the elite group of “original supermodels” from the 80s and 90s, alongside Estelle Lefébure, Karen Alexander, Rachel Williams, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. They are the six protagonists of a famous photo that the German Peter Lindbergh took on a beach in 1988 for Vogue.

“White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu,” as the image is known, launched a trend that spanned the next decade.

The German Claudia Schiffer, the American Cindy Crawford and the British Naomi Campbell also belong to this founding group. In addition, the Danish Helena Christensen, the Dutch Karen Mulder and the American Stephanie Seymour attended. Then Kate Moss and Valeria Mazza would join, among others.

The Peter Lindbergh Foundation – who passed away in September 2019, was Patitz’s favorite photographer – expressed his “deep sadness at the passing of the German supermodel.

No details have been circulated about the death of Patitz, who – according to the busy schedule of stars in the nineties – was rather a Cosmopolitan. He was born in Hamburg, Germany on May 25, 1966. His father was German, his mother was Latvian. He grew up in Sweden. But since 1989 he lived in California, surrounded by animals.

“It was always the european chic symbollike the blend of Romy Schneider and Monica Vitti,” said Anna Wintour, head of Vogue, in her magazine. She was sought after by the most prominent designers and brands on the planet: Chanel, Versace, Valentino and Jean Paul Gaultier.

It was in Sweden where her legend began to roll, when she finished third in a beauty contest in 1983. Then, as Vogue recalled this Wednesday, it was months before she was called for campaigns and fashion shows. Subsequently, with her deep and penetrating gaze, she has carved out a place among the most sought-after models.

In addition to Lindbergh’s photographs, Patitz was part of another signature piece for supermodels. This is the famous music video for “Freedom! ’90”, by British musician George Michael (who died in 2016), which also featured Evangelista, Campbell, Crawford and Christy Turlington.

Before that, he had been in Duran Duran’s video for the song “Skin Trade”. Years later, he encountered music again in the clip for “Make Me Bad” by the Korn group.

Patitz was “the quietest and perhaps the most intense of the ‘original supermodels,'” Vogue said in her post. She then echoed a statement from the same model. “I have never sold my soul,” the German said in a 2020 interview.

Patitz was divorced and had an 18-year-old son, her “source of joy”. In recent years she has participated in campaigns of several awareness campaigns.

In 2015, he met with Crawford, Herzigova, Auermann, Christensen and Alexander to recreate a Lindbergh photograph that landed on the cover of British Vogue. Twenty-five years had passed since that photograph, another of the iconic images which – like the title of George Michael’s video clip – heralded the beginning of a new era.

With information from agencies

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