Sant’ Barbara, CA — Tatjana Patitz, one of the few truly iconic supermodels of the 1980s and 1990s whose work included gracing the covers of magazines and starring in the music video for George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90,” has passed away at the age of 56.

Corinne Nicolas, Patitz’s agent at the Model CoOp agency in New York, has confirmed her death in the Santa Barbara, California, area. Nicolas speculated that illness was to blame, but he offered no further explanation.

In addition to Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Cindy Crawford, Patitz, who was born in Germany but raised in Sweden and ultimately settled in California, was recognised as one of the “first” supermodels after appearing in the Michael video.

According to Vogue, she was a favourite of fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who featured her in his iconic “White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu” photo in 1988 and on the cover of British Vogue in 1990. Michael then reportedly cast the models in his lip-syncing video.

Publication editor Anna Wintour was reported as saying that Patitz was “constantly representing European style iconography in a way that calls to mind Romy Schneider and Monica Vitti. She was much less outspoken than her contemporaries, which made her all the more alluring.”

Supermodels’ heyday, according to Patitz’s opinion, ended in 2006.

She was mentioned in Prestige Hong Kong magazine as saying, “There was a true era, and the reason that happened was because glamour was brought into it.” The models are now fully in the background while actors and actresses take centre stage.