Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of famous models who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and 1990s, has died aged 56.
Fabian Bimmer/AP
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Fabian Bimmer/AP
Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of famous models who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and 1990s, has died aged 56.
Fabian Bimmer/AP
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of celebrity models who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and 1990s and appeared in George’s “Freedom! ’90” music video Michael, died at age 56.
Patitz’s death in the Santa Barbara, Calif., area was confirmed by his New York agent, Corinne Nicolas, of Model CoOp. Nicolas said the cause was illness, but did not elaborate.
Patitz, who was born in Germany, raised in Sweden and later made her life in California, was known as one of an elite handful of “original” models, appearing in Michael’s video with Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Cindy. Crawford.
She was a favorite of fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who showcased her natural beauty in his famous 1988 photo, “White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu”, and for the cover of British Vogue in 1990, this which led to Michael kicking off the band in his lip-sync video. , according to Vogue.
The magazine quoted its global editorial director, Anna Wintour, as saying that Patitz was “still the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meet-Monica Vitti. She was much less visible than her peers – more mysterious, more adult, more inaccessible – and that had its own appeal.”
In a 2006 interview, Patitz felt that the golden age of fashion models was over.
“There was a real era, and the reason it happened was because glamor was introduced there,” she told Prestige Hong Kong magazine. “Now the celebrities and actresses have taken over, and the models are completely in the back.”
She also noted that models of her day had healthier physiques.
“The women were healthy, not these skinny little models whose names nobody knows anymore,” Patitz said.