Born in Hamburg, Germany and raised in Sweden Tatjana Patitz began her modelling career aged 14 when a local photographer entered her into Elite Models’ Look contest. She subsequently participated in the 1983 Elite Model Look world final in Acapulco. Her career took off after she moved to Paris in the mid-80s and landed a shoot in French Vogue with legendary fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh whom she collaborated with for many years. She later appeared in Lindberg’s film ‘Models’ and book 10 Women which featured her among 10 fellow super-models Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Kristen McMenamy, Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington and Amber Valletta.

During her career she walked for design houses including Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Helmut Lang, Max Mara, Longines and Hermès. Thanks to her blue-eyes, statuesque figure and awesome bone structure, she was the face of campaigns for Versace, Chanel and Calvin Klein and appeared in television commercials for Pantene Pro-V and Revlon Unforgettable. She appeared in over 130 magazine covers for Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, and Allure. But no cover equalled the impact of British Vogue's 1990 January edition which featured Tatjana alongside Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford; a cover which shot them to stardom and helped kick-start the ‘Super Model’ phenomena.

Shortly afterwards pop star George Michael cast all five girls in the video clip for his mega hit ’Freedom’ and Tatjana appeared in a cameo role in the film Rising Sun with Sean Connery. She later starred in the Duran Duran video clip for their single ‘Skin Trade’. While her career reached its height in the 1990s, she continued to model in the 2000s for designers including Hermes and Helmut Lang; recent campaigns include Marina Rinaldi, Shiseido and Bulgari.

Today Tatjana continues to model while dedicating herself to raising her son, Jonah. This very grounded former super model lives on a ranch in Santa Ynez, California, surrounded by nature, numerous dogs and her beloved horses. She is a vegetarian, dedicated to numerous ecological projects; including the protection of whales and dolphins; and recently made a documentary about the plight of wild mustangs in the US.