January 11, 2023, 9:33 PM
January 11, 2023, 9:33 PM
German supermodel Tatjana Patitz has died at the age of 56 in California, her agent announced Wednesday.
Patitz – who rose to fame in the 1990s, becoming in one of the most prominent supermodels of the moment– she had breast cancer.
During his career he also appeared in music videos, such as the one for the theme “Freedom”!” of George Michael.
In a 1988 interview with Vogue magazine, he said that his success was due to the fact that “She didn’t look like the others.”
“People always said that I looked special… And that I was going to be successful because of it,” he said.
His discovery
Patitz was born in Hamburg in 1966 to an Estonian mother and a German father.
Her family moved to Sweden, where she participated in a beauty pageant at the age of 17. She placed third and it took several years for her modeling career to take off.
But in 1988 his luck changed when the prominent fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh discovered it and worked with her on a photo shoot.
She then appeared on the famous cover of the British edition of Vogue magazine in 1990 alongside Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlingtoncementing her status as one of the five supermodels considered the “original” of the ’90s.
Patitz was also the face of brand advertising campaigns Chanel, Calvin Klein and Versace.
“Tatjana was always the European symbol of elegance, like Romy Schneider and Monica Vitti… She was much less visible than her peers: more mysterious, more adult, more unattainable, and that had a particular appeal,” said Anna Wintour, director global publisher of Vogue.
After her death, the Peter Lindbergh Foundation paid tribute to the model, highlighting “Tatjana’s kindness, inner beauty and outstanding intelligence.”
“She will be missed immensely,” the Foundation said in a Twitter message.
Patitz’s most recent runway appearance was at the Etro show in February 2019, as part of Milan fashion week.
She is survived by her 19-year-old son Jonah.
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