‘80s, ‘90s supermodel Tatjana Patitz dies
Supermodel Tatjana Patitz has died.
She was 56 years old.
Patitz was featured on magazine covers in the 1980s and 1990s, The Associated Press reported.
She also appeared in George Michael’s music video for “Freedom” alongside Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell, Harper’s Bazaar reported in 2020.
When talking about the music video, Patitz told the publication, “It represents an era in pop culture, and it was at the height of the early ‘90s when the fashion, film and music industries blended together. MTV was huge at the time with all the incredible music videos. I became more recognizable in a different way I think.”
In addition to the “Freedom” video, she also appeared in Duran Duran’s “Skin Trade” video, and as a murder victim in 1993′s “Rising Sun” starring Sean Connery, the Mirror reported.
She was frequently photographed by Peter Lindbergh, who used her for his 1988 photo, “White Shirts: Six Supermodels in Malibu,” and for a cover for British Vogue in January 1990, the AP reported.
Vogue called Patitz “the quietest and perhaps the most intense of the original supermodels” in her obituary, saying that she “never seemed to be part of ‘the pack.’”
Patitz was born in Germany and raised in Sweden, by an Estonian mother and a German father. She was a tomboy and competitive horse rider in 1983 when she entered a modeling contest in Stockholm, earning third place in all of Sweden and winning a trip to Paris and a limited-time contract where she struggled, not getting work for a year, Vogue reported.
But when Lindbergh found her, her world changed with Vogue calling him “the fairy godfather of Patitz’s career.”
Condé Nast chief content officer Anna Wintour called Patitz’s beauty, “always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti.
“She was far less visible than her peers—more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable—and that had its own appeal.”
Patitz acknowledged her individual look in a 1988 Vogue profile, saying, “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.”
Patitz spent her downtime at her home in California, away from the lights of Paris or New York, and closer to nature and animals.
By 2006, Patitz said the golden era of supermodels had ended, the AP reported.
“There was a real era, and the reason that happened was because glamour was brought into it,” she told Prestige Hong Kong magazine, according to the AP. “Now the celebrities and actresses have taken over, and the models are in the backseat completely.”
She also had strong words for the newer models, saying the women of her era had healthier physiques, the AP reported.
“Women were healthy, not these scrawny little models that nobody knows their names anymore,” Patitz said.
Patitz had dated several entertainers over the years including Seal, Pierce Brosnan and Nick Kamen, the Mirror reported.
According to her New York agent, Corinne Nicolas from the Model CoOp agency, Patitz’s died in Santa Barbara, California, from an illness, but the specific illness and other details, including when exactly she died, were not released, the AP reported.
Patitz leaves behind her son Jonah, whom she shared with ex-husband Jason Johnson, the Mirror reported.
She had called Jonah her “source of happiness.”
Model Tatjana Patitz (Photo by George Chinsee/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Tatjana Patitz appears at Christian Dior Winter 1991 show in July 1991 in Paris, France. (Photo by ARNAL/PAT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE – JULY: Tatjana Patitz walks the runway at the Chanel Haute Couture Fall/Winter 1991-1992 fashion show during the Paris Fashion Week in July, 1991 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH: Tatjana Patitz walks the runway during the Chanel Ready to Wear show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 1992-1993 in March, 1992 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
FILM PREMIERE: ‘RISING SUN’ AT THE ACADEMY THEATRE (Photo by Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images)
PAOLO BULGARI RECEPTION AT THE ‘LEDOYEN’ PAVILION (Photo by Micheline Pelletier/Sygma via Getty Images)
Seal and Tatjana Patitz (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Michel Comte makes some final adjustments to Tatiana Patitz pose. (Photo by Yves Forestier/Sygma via Getty Images)
The studio photoshoot gets underway. (Photo by Yves Forestier/Sygma via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 03: Actress Tatjana Patitz poses at Lucy B. at the 2006 Diamond Lounge By Nathalie Dubois in the Penthouse at Peterson Automotive Museum March 3, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
(EXCLUSIVE, Premium Rates Apply) Tatiana Patitz and Morgan Freeman (Photo by L. Cohen/WireImage)
MUNICH, GERMANY – OCTOBER 25: Model Tatjana Patitz arrives for the GQ Men of the Year Award at the Prinzregenten Theater on October 25, 2007 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
BERLIN – APRIL 29: Model Tatjana Patitz and actress Sadie Frost (former wife of Jude Law) attend the ‘smart fortwo electric drive’ presentation at the ‘smart urban stage 2010’ opening on April 29, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Florian Seefried/Getty Images for Smart)
KITZBUEHEL, AUSTRIA – JULY 12: Tatjana Patitz attends the 60 years Sportalm celebration at Bichelalm on July 12, 2013 in Kitzbuehel, Austria. (Photo by Manfred Laux/Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY – JANUARY 21: Model Tatjana Patitz during the Lavera Showfloor at Umspannwerk on January 21, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Gisela Schober/Getty Images for Lavera Showfloor)
MUNICH, GERMANY – AUGUST 23: Tatjana Patitz during the ‘Stargefluester’ photo call at Hair & Beauty Galerie on August 23, 2015 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
MUNICH, GERMANY – AUGUST 23: Tatjana Patitz during the ‘Stargefluester’ photo call at Hair & Beauty Galerie on August 23, 2015 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
MUNICH, GERMANY – DECEMBER 04: Tatjana Patitz attends the Mon Cheri Barbara Tag 2015 at Postpalast on December 4, 2015 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Franziska Krug/Getty Images for Mon Cheri)
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 20: Photographer Peter Lindbergh and model Tatjana Patitz attend photographer Peter Lindbergh Book Signing for "A Different Vision On Fashion Photography" TASCHEN Gallery on September 20, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY – OCTOBER 05: Tatjana Patitz and Jonah Patitz attend the Tribute to Bambi 2022 at Hotel Berlin Central District on October 5, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Gerald Matzka/Getty Images)
