Who Was Tatjana Patitz, The Most Mysterious Of The Original Supers?

Peter Lindbergh’s January 1990 cover for British Vogue will forever be remembered as one of the most iconic. A landmark moment in the careers of the supers, the late photographer captured Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford at the turn of the decade. To this day, the quartet all enjoys household-name status. But the fifth face – German model Tatjana Patitz – has largely disappeared from the limelight.

The era-defining cover was not Patitz’s first. In fact, Tatjana covered Vogue US solo the same month as British Vogue’s portrait of the supers. Five years earlier, she was shot by Albert Watson for British Vogue’s 1985 October issue and tallied up an impressive six British Vogue covers prior to the Lindbergh photograph, including the November 1989 cover that was also captured by him.

Patitz struck up a collaborative relationship with Lindbergh that lasted 30 years and was last shot by him in 2016 beside Helena Christensen and Karen Alexander for Vogue Italia’s trio of October covers, which also featured Carolyn Murphy, Isabeli Fontana, Milla Jovovich, Karen Elson, Lara Stone and Liu Wen.
 

Shortly after the famed January issue, she starred alongside her fellow supers in George Michael’s “Freedom” music video. Later, Naomi, Christy, Linda and Cindy (sans Tatjana) walked in Gianni Versace’s autumn/winter 1991 show to the soundtrack of the same song, which has since been regarded as a historic fashion moment (and was even recreated by Donatella for spring/summer 2018). Patitz was by no means under the radar at this point – several covers for international Vogue titles followed, in addition to campaigns for Chanel, Calvin Klein and Versace.

The past few years have seen somewhat of a supers renaissance. Brands have enlisted Christy, Linda and Naomi to strike their signature poses once again. And with the release of The Supermodels, a new docuseries that charts the inimitable careers of Naomi, Christy, Linda and Cindy set to be shown on Apple TV+, hype surrounding the models isn’t set to waiver any time soon.