Actor Urs Althaus mourns the loss of supermodel Tatjana Patitz († 56)
“Have a good trip, most beautiful angel”
She shone on catwalks and in fashion magazines. In private, Tatjana Patitz lived a very withdrawn life. She never shared with the public that she had breast cancer. She died of it on January 11th.
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Tatjana Patitz was one of the model stars of the 80s and 90s. In 1996 she wowed people on the catwalks and in glossy magazines.
Flavia SchlittlerDeputy Head of Department People
“I still can’t believe it, it makes me stunned and sad,” are the first words of actor Urs Althaus on the death of model icon Tatjana Patitz († 56). As it became known on Thursday night, she lost the fight against breast cancer.
Althaus worked for the Zurich model agency Option in the 1990s. As part of his job as a model supervisor at the time, he also met Patitz several times at various fashion shows and events. In 1990 she was one of the “Big Five”, consisting of the models Cindy Crawford (56), Christy Turlington (54), Naomi Campbell (52), Linda Evangelista (57) and Patitz herself. They appeared together that year in the music video ” Freedom» by George Michael (1963-2016) and also inspired the MTV generation.
Tatjana Patitz loved Swiss cuisine
As a model agent, Althaus brought Patitz to Zurich for three days for a shoot for the PKZ fashion house. “Tatjana was polite, highly professional and very down to earth.” Not like other models, who at the time were not only the stars of the catwalks and glossy magazines, but also filled the headlines of the press, as British royals do today.
Patitz, the muse of then star photographer Peter Lindbergh (1944-2019) was different. “She had neither airs nor special requests. When other models in her league came with their own make-up artists and hairdressers, she felt comfortable with the respective teams on site. » During the three days, she either retired to her hotel room or went out to eat with Althaus. “She loved Swiss cuisine. Was polite to everyone, she also had a good sense of humor and liked to listen.”
A final greeting
The sympathy for her early death and the terrible diagnosis, which she kept to herself, move the international fashion world. “Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic – like Romy-Schneider-meets-Monica-Vitti,” writes “Vogue” boss Anna Wintour (73). “She was much less visible than her peers — more mysterious, more mature, more aloof — and that had its own appeal.”
Urs Althaus, once celebrated as a top model himself, sends her a final greeting: “Have a good trip, most beautiful angel.”