German model Tatjana Patitz, famous for being part of the group of “original supermodels” of the 80s and 90s featured in a video by musician George Michael, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, her agency said, confirming information from the
Vogue
magazine
.
"Tatjana died this morning in California"
, where she resided, replied in an email to AFP Corinne Nicolas, founder and boss of the modeling agency on Manhattan's 5th Avenue in New York, The Model CoOp.
“A European symbol of chic”
She did not reveal the circumstances of this disappearance at 56, according to the New York fashion magazine
Vogue
which revealed the information.
Renowned German fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who died in 2019, had always been Tatjana Patitz's favorite and had photographed her since the 1980s. His foundation said on Twitter that it was
"deeply saddened by the passing of Tatjana Patitz, a long-time friend of Peter"
and
"(wanted) to bow to Tatjana's kindness, inner beauty and incredible intelligence".
Born in Germany, raised in Sweden and based in California, Tatjana Patitz
"has always been the symbol of European chic, like the meeting of Romy Schneider and Monica Vitti"
, declared to her own magazine Anna Wintour, patron of
Vogue.
She was part of the elite group of "original supermodels" of the 1980s-90s, along with models Estelle Lefébure, Karen Alexander, Rachel Williams, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington.
The six women appear in a famous photo taken on a beach in 1988 by Peter Lindbergh for
Vogue
(“White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu”).
Read alsoPeter Lindbergh: a look back at the work of a humanist artist in five cult photos
Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford also appear and lip-sing on the voice of George Michael in the famous music video for the title
Freedom!
' 90s
by the British songwriter who died in 2016. Tatjana Patitz was the
"calmest and perhaps most intense of the 'original supermodels,'"
Vogue told
Vogue
, echoing a statement the model made during a 2020 interview:
“I never sold my soul”.
