Tatjana Patitz, a famous supermodel who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and 1990s and appeared in George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” music video, died at the age of 56.
Patitz’s death in the Santa Barbara, California, area was confirmed by her Model CoOp agency’s New York agent, Corinne Nicolas. Nicolas stated that the cause was illness but provided no further information.
Patitz, who was born in Germany, raised in Sweden, and later settled in California, was known as one of the “original” supermodels, appearing in Michael’s video alongside Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Cindy Crawford.
She was a favourite of fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who featured her natural beauty in his famous 1988 photo, “White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu,” as well as on the cover of British Vogue in 1990, prompting Michael to cast the group in his lip-syncing video, according to Vogue.
The magazine quoted its global editorial director, Anna Wintour, as saying Patitz was “always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti. She was far less visible than her peers — more mysterious, mature, and unattainable — and that had its own allure.”
Patitz stated in a 2006 interview that the golden age of supermodels had passed.
“There was a real era, and it happened because glamour was introduced into it,” she was quoted in Prestige Hong Kong magazine as saying. “Now that celebrities and actresses have taken over, models are completely in the backseat.”
She also mentioned that models from her era had better-looking bodies.
“Women were healthy, not these scrawny little models whose names no one remembers,” Patitz said.
