Tatjana Patitz obit

Tatjana Patitz, One of the Original Supermodels, Has Died

 

 She was not on the list.

Tatjana Patitz, the quietest and perhaps the most intense of the original supermodels, has died. She was 56. A representative for the family stated that the cause of death was metastatic breast cancer.

“I never sold my soul,” Patitz said in a 2020 interview. Born in Hamburg to an Estonian mother and German father, she moved with her family to Skanör, an idyllic seaside town in the South of Sweden when she was quite young. In 1983, as a 17-year-old tomboy and competitive horse rider, she entered an Elite Model Contest in Stockholm. She placed third in Sweden. The prize was a trip to Paris and a limited-time contract. But, as Vogue wrote in 1988, “a star was not quickly born. Tatjana found no work for a year.”

Enter Peter Lindbergh, the fairy godfather of Patitz’s career. The German photographer, noted for his unretouched images and preference for a “natural” beauty look, would shoot Patitz for the famous image, “White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu,” in 1988, and again for British Vogue’s January 1990 supermodels cover. When George Michael saw that issue, he invited the same cast of “girls” to appear and lip sync in his “Freedom ’90” music video.

One of the original supermodels, Patitz never seemed to be part of “the pack.” In part that’s explained by her choice to make her home not in New York or Paris, but in California, where she could be closer to nature and her animals. Geography aside, there was a certain element of mystery to Patitz’s beauty, something in the gentle oval of her face and the shape of her eyes that spoke of self-possession and passion. “Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti,” remembered Anna Wintour, chief content officer of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue. “She was far less visible than her peers—more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable—and that had its own appeal.”

Patitz’s allure was womanly and knowing, not that of the wide-eyed ingenue, and with her training as an actor, she was a force to be reckoned with. As she told Vogue in a 1988 profile, “Tatjana: Million Dollar Beauty,” “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.”

Tatjana Patitz had long-standing working relationships with Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, and Patrick Demarchelier, who often shot her on location. Her more recent appearances in Vogue were family affairs. The model was reunited with her peers for “Good Jeans,” a supermodels-in-denim story shot by Annie Leibovitz. In 2012, Patitz and her son Jonah Johnson were captured in a pastoral idyll at home on their ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley by Lindbergh. Again in 2019 the mother and son made an appearance in a Tina Barney portfolio. Speaking of her son last year, she declared, “Jonah is my source of happiness.”

The agency that represented her, the Model CoOp, also announced her death on Instagram Wednesday.

"Today, our beauty Tatjana Patitz, passed away," the agency said in the caption of the second of three posts featuring Patitz on Vogue covers throughout her career.

"As one of the original Supers and through her work with Patrick Demarchelier, Herb Ritts, and Peter Lindbergh, Tatjana's career in the fashion industry stands apart," the post said.

 

Model CoOp's first post about Patitz on Wednesday paid tribute to her "iconic beauty," adding, "Our condolences to her family and friends."

In the third post, Model CoOp said, "Today the fashion industry has lost an icon," then quoted Anna Wintour as saying Patitz "was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti."

In her personal life, Patitz was passionate about animals and nature. She once told the accessories designer Kendall Conrad she was "happiest in the ocean and the natural world."

"My animals are my family and I treat them as such," she added. "I couldn't imagine my life without animals."

The statement from Nicolas referenced her devotion to both: "Needless to say, we are all devastated by her passing. She was a compassionate soul, kind and generous of heart and an avid advocate of animal rights. One of the major causes she supported was the conservation of wild horses through 'Return to "Freedom- Wild Horse Conservation' in Santa Barbara."

In 1987, she appeared in the Duran Duran music video for "Skin Trade" which charted on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1988, she appeared in the Nick Kamen music video for "Tell Me". Patitz then starred in George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video with Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Naomi Campbell in 1990, regarded as one of the greatest videos of all time by Spin, Parade, and Billboard. In 2000, she appeared in the Korn music video for the song "Make Me Bad," a top 10 hit on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart.

Patitz has appeared in international television commercials for Cartier, Revlon, Levi, DuPont Luxura, Pantene, Dockers, Ralph Lauren and the iconic Vauxhall Corsa commercial directed by Tarsem Singh and starring supermodels Campbell, Turlington, Evangelista, and Kate Moss.

Her first major film appearance was as a murder victim in Rising Sun (1993). Following this, Patitz had appearances on television series such as The Single Guy and The Larry Sanders Show. Her largest role was in the 1999 thriller Restraining Order. She was also in the film Ready to Wear.

Along with Michael J. Fox, she appeared in the 2011 Carl Zeiss AG calendar, photographed by Bryan Adams in New York City in the summer of 2010.