We are supposed to outgrow schoolboy crushes, however I cried this morning on the information of German stick insect Tatjana Patitz’s demise from breast most cancers, elderly 56.
She was once the Valkyrie-like attractiveness who seductively mouthed the phrases to George Michael’s Freedom ’90 via a cloud of cigarette smoke, along Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington.
Helena Christensen with Tatjana Patitz in Los Angeles in 1997. Patitz died from breast most cancers elderly 56.Credit score:Getty
Within the song video that upgraded fashions to celebrities, Evangelista was once the chameleon, Crawford the all-American pin-up, Campbell the trailblazer and Turlington perfection, in line with the 90s same old of attractiveness – however Patitz was once my favorite. Her identify didn’t turn into a emblem, like Elle (Macpherson), Claudia (Schiffer) and Kate (Moss), however that was once a part of the appeal. Liking Patitz, at the side of Marpessa Hennink, Karen Alexander and Yasmeen Ghauri, separated you from style dilettantes.
As a 14-year-old thumbing via US Fashion, I felt like a style scout after I came upon Patitz in a 1987 commercial for Revlon, along Iman and Jerry Corridor. It was once weigh down in the beginning sight as a result of her almond-shaped eyes, symmetrical options, milkmaid pores and skin and vowel-laden identify.
I wasn’t on my own, with US Fashion editor Anna Wintour a part of the fan membership.
Tatjana Patitz (centre) photographed by way of Peter Lindbergh along Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford for the January 1990 factor of British ‘Fashion’.Credit score:Getty
“Tatjana was once at all times the Ecu image of elegant, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti,” Wintour stated in Fashion’s file of Patitz’s demise. “She was once a long way much less visual than her friends — extra mysterious, extra grown-up, extra not possible — and that had its personal attraction.”
Patitz scored numerous Fashion covers with pictures greats Peter Lindbergh and Herb Ritts, a job in a 1988 Levi’s industrial reverse male style Bruce Hulse that was once banned in the United Kingdom and profitable campaigns for Chanel and L’Oréal. At the airbrushed floor there’s little or no for me to cry about.
I felt a an identical loss, when stick insect Stella Tennant, granddaughter of Deborah Mitford, the Duchess of Devonshire, died by way of suicide in December 2020. The indie aristocratic Tennant, who labored with Versace, Alexander McQueen and Chanel, by no means reached weigh down standing, my middle was once already taken, however I felt robbed.
