Supermodel Tatjana Patitz has died at the age of 56, her modelling agency has announced. No cause of death has been given. The German-born model was living in California at the time of her death.
Patitz rose to fame in the 1990s and became one of the decade's most prominent supermodels. She appeared in music videos for Duran Duran and George Michael, and featured on the famous 1990 British Vogue cover alongside Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington, cementing her status as one of the five 'original' supermodels.
Born in Hamburg in 1966 to an Estonian mother and German father, her family soon moved to Sweden. She entered a contest at age 17, coming third, and it took several years for her career to take off. By 1988, she was being photographed by high-profile fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh.
Patitz worked on campaigns for Chanel, Calvin Klein and Versace. Anna Wintour, global editorial director of Vogue, said: 'Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic... She was far less visible than her peers - more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable - and that had its own appeal.'
The Peter Lindbergh Foundation paid tribute to 'Tatjana's kindness, inner beauty and outstanding intelligence'. Her most recent catwalk appearance was in the Etro show in February 2019 during Milan fashion week.
