Written by Scottie Andrew, CNN
Tatjana Patitz, who rose to fashion fame in the ’90s as an animal-loving supermodel with piercing eyes, has died, her agent confirmed to CNN. She was 56.
Patitz died of breast cancer Wednesday, her agent Corinne Nicolas told CNN. She is survived by her son Jonah.
The German-born model appeared on dozens of covers for Vogue and countless other fashion magazines from the 1980s. Her most famous cover, which she shared with other supermodels of her generation, inspired George Michael to use her in his music video for Freedom! ’90”. While the other supermodels of her era were known for dominating the public eye, Patitz preferred a quieter life surrounded by nature, particularly wild horses and the western lands they inhabited. Still, she’s impossible to effortlessly chic, said Anna Wintour, Vogue’s global editorial director, in a statement to the magazine.
“Tatjana has always been the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti,” she said.
Tatjana Patitz walks the runway at the Chanel Ready to Wear Spring/Summer 1991-1992 runway show during Paris Fashion Week 1991. Credit: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
Born in Hamburg and raised in Sweden, Patitz was discovered in 1983 when she was a finalist in the Elite Model Look competition, where elite agency heads chose her from a pool of strangers. (Cindy Crawford was also an Elite finalist that year.) However, her career didn’t really take off until the late ’80s. Around this time, she became the muse of photographer Peter Lindbergh, for whom she modeled into the 2010s. He snapped a now-iconic Vogue photo of Patitz and other models on a beach in Santa Monica, California, in 1988, trudging on the sand in matching white shirts. Then came an iconic 1990 British Vogue cover, also photographed by Lindbergh – Patitz, one of the ‘original’ supermodels of the era, appeared alongside Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista. The image prompted singer George Michael to use the women in the video for his single “Freedom!” ’90”, which has also become a cultural artifact.
Patitz (second from right) hangs on the shoulder of longtime collaborator Peter Lindbergh in 2016, flanked by models Karena Alexander (left) and Milla Jovovich. Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Patitz was considered “unusual” looking compared to the other dominant models at the time of her rise, according to a 1990 Harper’s Bazaar story: “In fact, Patitz’s facial features are almost bewildering. Like Garbo or the Mona Lisa, the inexplicable gifts of line and luminescence defy definition.” Her piercing gaze gave her a slightly otherworldly look, according to industry observations.
Photographer Matthew Rolston said of Patitz in this 1990 story, “There’s a depth, an emotional quality to her that’s really extraordinary.” Her looks, she said, aren’t just beautiful; it was unforgettable and impressive.
According to Elite, Patitz appeared on more than 130 magazine covers during her lifetime. She was just one face among a sea of supermodels for the cover of Vogue’s 100th anniversary in 1992, all dressed identically in white jeans and white button-down shirts tied at the waist. And in 2016, she appeared on a black and white cover of Vogue Italia, photographed by Lindbergh.
Tatjana Patitz in Germany in April 2022. Source: Gisela Schober/German Select/Getty Images
A lifelong animal lover, she was photographed on horseback for a Vogue spread in 1989, also sporting several wide-brimmed cowboy hats. She also appeared with her son Jonah in a 2012 shoot at her home in California.
Away from the runway, Patitz has been passionate about animal advocacy, even since her early modeling days, as noted in her 1990 Harper’s Bazaar profile. She told Mexican magazine Milenio in 2021 that she was involved in California’s wild horse protection legislation and was involved in the American Wild Horse Campaign, which works to protect public lands. She continued to work in fashion into her 40s and 50s, but she was “very selective” about her projects, she told Mercedes-Benz’s 63Magazine in 2016, trying to “combine my work as a model with my calling as a model.” to combine protectors of nature and animals.”
Patitz told Milenio she prefers to live a more low-key life than her fellow supermodels and enjoys being “surrounded by nature, away from concrete and noise” with her son and animals. She had less public exposure than her contemporaries, and when she relocated to California rather than being the modeling hub of New York, her legacy wasn’t as widely recognized as hers.
“She was a lot less visible than her peers — more mysterious, more mature, more unattainable — and that had its own appeal,” Wintour told Vogue.
in one tweetThe Peter Lindbergh Foundation, which shares photos from the late photographer’s archives, hailed Patitz’s kindness, inner beauty and outstanding intelligence.