Model Tatjana Patitz died at the age of 56 on Wednesday January 11, 2023. A disappearance that leaves the fashion world in mourning.
She was one of supermodelsthese star models of the 80’s and 90’s, including Estelle Lefébure, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. Tatjana Patitza 56-year-old German model, died on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 in California. According to information from the magazine vogueshe would have succumbed to a metastatic breast cancer.
What was the career of Tatjana Patitz?
The destiny of Tatjana Patitz begins on March 25, 1966 at Hamburg. Born to German and Estonian parents, she grew up in Skänor, Sweden. At 17, she tried her luck at the agency’s very first modeling competition Elite, in Sweden. She finished third and flew to Paris to make her debut. But it is in 1988 his career took off. Tatjana Patitz, then 22 years old, is immortalized by the German photographer Peter Lindbergh in a photo dubbed “White Shirts; Six Supermodels, Malibu“, which appears in vogue and go around the world. We see, on the famous beach, the six models of the moment in panties and white shirts: Estelle Lefébure, Linda EvangelistaKaren Alexander, Rachel Williams, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz. The legend is launched.
Two years later, George Michael invites her, alongside Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista, to sing in lip-synching in her music video Freedom! ’90.
For Anna WintourGlobal Editorial Director of voguemagazine from which these words are taken: “Tatjana has always been the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider and Monica Vitti. She was much less visible than her peers – more mysterious, more adult, more unapproachable – and that had its own appeal.“. An attitude that has seduced the greatest photographers, but also the brands, which from Alaïa to Vivienne Westwoodvia Comme des Garçons, PradaBurberry and Chanel, paraded the model. But in 1994, it was another photo that made people talk about her: Tatjana Patitz posed naked, in the company of Naomi CampbellEmma Sjoberg, Heather Stewart Whyte and Fabienne Terwinghe for the animal protection association Peta. “We’d rather go naked than wear fur” (“We’d rather be naked than wear fur” in French) proclaims the image, thus affirming the positions of the supertop against animal exploitation in the fashion industry.
How does fashion pay homage to him?
Since the announcement of Tatjana Patitz’s death, tributes from celebrities have been raining down on social networks. Carla Bruni thus posted on Instagram a photograph of the captioned model: “RIP dear Tatjana“.
Estelle Lefebure has, meanwhile, published several pictures of the model: “It’s a sad night, my dear friend and horse lover Tatjana Patitz. I’ll miss you. Rest in peace, my angel“.
Christy Turlington, for her part, shared the memories of her first meeting with her friend: “Tatjana was still a vision. Glamorous, sophisticated, and warm, once she let you in“. A moving text.