How the original supermodels stood the test of time: Following Tatjana Patitz’s death, Femail charts the never-ending success of the models on THAT Vogue cover and how they became more idolised with age
- Tatjana Patitz passed away at the age of 56 in Santa Barbara, from breast cancer
- She became known for the January 1990 Vogue cover with other supermodels
- Femail takes a look at their impressive careers as they continue to rise
- While some have passed on the baton, others continue to appear on catwalks
After the sad death of Tatjana Patitz was announced at the age of just 56, supermodels have sent condolences to their fellow model and friend.
Many people will remember Tatjana, who modelled for fashion houses including Chanel, Versace and Valentino in her 40-year career, from the 1990 cover of Vogue’s January issue as she posed alongside Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford as the original supermodels.
It has become one of the most iconic fashion images of all time and was on Edward Enninful’s top ten British Vogue covers of all time, with Patitz making the cover of US vogue on her own in the same month as the iconic Peter Lindbergh group shot.
The supermodels later went on to star alongside each other in George Michael’s music video for Freedom 90.
Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford were some of the most famous women in the world when they appeared on the cover of Vogue in January 1990, and they have all gone on to enjoy enormous success. FEMAIL charts their careers to date
The cover marked a key moment in the careers of each of the models as they continued to rise and are still very much in the public eye today.
Here, FEMAIL charts the phenomenal success of Vogue’s January 1990 cover stars, and how they’ve only got better with age.
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell, 52 (pictured on the catwalk in Doha in 2022), became known for her chiseled bone structure and cat-like eyes, and has gone on to become one of the world’s most famous supermodels
South Londoner Naomi Campbell, 52, has become one of the most famous supermodels of her generation, modelling for Prada, Versace and Chanel among many others.
Since appearing on the January 1990 cover of Vogue, Campbell’s stunning looks have barely altered, but her life has changed significantly after she became a mother in May 2021.
She has previously revealed how she goes to great lengths to maintain her stunning beauty and svelte figure – and it sounds somewhat gruelling.
The top model admitted in 2020 she only eats once a day, and according to her private chef Sean John, this one meal is subject to further restrictions.
Naomi said in an interview that year: ‘I eat my lunch. Lunch is my dinner, because I really only eat once a day.
Campbell reportedly does not eat gluten or dairy, but will occasionally treat herself to some ‘desserts’ on Sundays.
Sean John told Page Six that same year: ‘I have cooked for her for over ten years. She has her own stuff at home, but I prepare one really good meal a day, and it’s super clean and really healthy.’
The chef also revealed that the top model never eats plane food, and he has to prepare her meals when she is flying privately.
After first appearing on the cover of Vogue when she was just 17 years old and taking the world by storm with her enormous cat-like eyes and chiseled cheekbones, Campbell’s success has only grown as she firmly settles into the fourth decade of her modelling career.
At 52 she is still glowing and often appears on magazine covers, while also advocating for black women and girls of younger generations in the fashion business.
She’s notched up more than 500 covers in the course of her career as well as campaigns for Burberry, Chanel, Prada and Louis Vuitton to name just a few of the world’s most prestigious brands.
Starting out in the 1980s, Campbell had to break barriers in order to achieve success in the fashion world, as the only black supermodel in the ‘gang’ of the Vogue cover.
And it has been widely reported that the support of her fellow supermodels helped her smash through those barriers in the early stages of her career, as Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington refused to work with Dolce & Gabbana unless they used Campbell as well.
Writing for the Daily Mail, former editor of Cosmopolitan in the 1980s, Linda Kelsey, recalled how difficult it was for women of colour to break through in the modelling industry at the time.
But decades on, Campbell has dedicated her career to ending the inequalities, both in her industry and in society as a whole.
In November 2020 she appeared on the cover of Vogue once again and discussed the issue of racism.
She said: ‘I think as a generation, as a whole, can we get reparations for our culture, for what we’ve been through?
‘I absolutely believe we are going to get the positive outcome we deserve.’
Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford (pictured), 56, has become an international superstar and now owns a cosmetics company and is the face of Omega watches
Cindy has proved modelling runs in the family as her lookalike daughter Kaia has appeared on the catwalk for several big designers (mother and daughter pictured in 2021)
Brunette bombshell Cindy Crawford’s career was launched by a photograph of her which was published in a college newspaper for Northern Illinois University.
After posing for the photo, which was taken by her boyfriend’s swimming pool, the photographer advised her to find a modelling agent, which she did, and moved to Chicago.
Growing up wasn’t always easy for a young Crawford, who has admitted to Vogue she was teased as a child.
The source of the cruel mocking? The mole above her lip, which has come to be the brunette beauty’s distinguishing feature and perhaps the secret to her phenomenal success.
She told the magazine: ‘I would get teased by the other kids in school, so I definitely wanted to get it removed.’
Luckily, she added her mother convinced her this would be a bad idea – however as she went on to enjoy career success, the insecurities she had developed from school bullies continued to haunt her.
On a podcast where she chatted to her friend Naomi Campbell, Crawford revealed that in the early stages of her career, magazines edited out the mole.
But the stunning model stood firm in maintaining her natural appearance and continued to rise up the ranks in the modelling world. In 2017, Vogue noted her mole in a list of the greatest beauty marks of all time.
Following a decades-long career, Crawford has officially retired from catwalk modelling but is still a spokesperson for huge brands including Omega watches. She also runs a cosmetics company called Meaningful Beauty.
And, proving that modelling is in her genes, Crawford has passed the baton on to her lookalike daughter Kaia Gerber, 20, who has strutted the catwalk for Marc Jacobs, Fendi and Mocshino to name a few.
Paired together, the two could be sisters as Gerber’s facial features are almost identical to those of her mother, who looks phenomenal at the age of 56.
Speaking to The Cut in 2017, she revealed how she maintains her toned figure and looks after her body.
Writing about a typical day in her life, she told how she wakes up and gets in her jacuzzi first thing, before making herself a green tea and a smoothie for breakfast.
In terms of working out, she revealed she does 20 minutes of cardio and some weights three times a week, with her cardio sometimes taking the form of a little trampoline session or running up and down the stairs outside her house.
She added: ‘Once a week, I try to go on a hike with a friend so I combine exercise and girlfriend time — it’s the best multitasking.’
Despite making sure she looks after herself, Crawford revealed she doesn’t think it’s ‘healthy’ to berate herself for missing a workout or eating a piece of cake, and revealed she takes the approach of ‘balance’ in her lifestyle.
In the same interview she spoke about how she has coached her daughter on her foray into the modelling world.
She said: ‘The good thing is that she’s grown up with seeing how I take care of myself, so I don’t really have to say that much to her.
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington, 54 (pictured) has become just as well known for her humanitarian work in maternal health as she has for modelling
Christy Turlington shot to fame fronting Calvin Klein’s Eternity Campaign in 1989 and has since gone on to become the face of brands including Maybelline.
The California-born model was scouted while riding a horse in Miami, Florida and began modelling from the age of 14 after school before moving to New York when she was 18 to pursue the career full-time.
Over the course of her career she has appeared in Vogue, Tatler, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire and other fashion magazines and has featured in campaigns for dozens of designers including Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.
In 2008, two decades into her career, casting director James Scully said of Turlington: ‘The greatest model of all time! You could combine every model to this day into one person, and they wouldn’t come close (sorry, girls).’
After also taking on new business ventures including an ayurvedic skincare line and clothing lines for Puma, in more recent years Turlington has turned her focus to humanitarian work.
She first began working with organisation CARE in 2005, for which she has now become an advocate for maternal health.
Her interest in the subject was sparked by her own difficult childbirth experience in 2003 and learning that 500,000 women die per year in childbirth, with the vast majority considered preventable deaths.
Turlington’s interest in maternal health led to her directorial debut in 2010 as she made a film called No Woman, No Cry. The film focuses on the issue in Guatemala, Tanzania, Bangladesh and the US.
In 2019, Turlington was selected by Meghan Markle to appear on the cover of Vogue for the September issue, which she guest edited.
And just this month, Vogue hailed the supermodel as ‘more beautiful than ever’ as she celebrated her 54th birthday.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in November, Turlington revealed how she looks after her physical and mental health, including a love of yoga.
She said: ‘I’ve built a more consistent home practice, which I have loved. I also like to run. I like to be outside when it’s cooler, and it’s a great complement. They go together really well.’
Turlington’s love of running has led her to run several marathons during her lifetime, including the London Marathon. Her personal best is an impressive three hours and 46 minutes.
Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista, 57, has been hailed by fashion icons including Karl Lagerfeld and became known for saying: ‘We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day’ at the height of her fame
Canadian beauty Linda Evangelista is widely considered one of the most successful fashion models of all time and has appeared on more than 700 magazine covers during her career.
She is perhaps most well known for uttering the phrase: ‘We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day’ in reference to herself and her Vogue 1990 gang, and for becoming a muse of photographer Steven Meisel.
After signing with a modelling agency in 1984, Evangelista’s big break came when she starred on the cover of French magazine L’Officiel the same year, after moving to Paris.
She soon caught the eye of Karl Lagerfeld and began modelling for Chanel. Lagerfeld once said of her: ‘There is not another model in the world as professional as she is.’
In 1988, Evangelista was catapulted to supermodel status when her new short haircut took the world by storm.
The haircut became known as ‘The Linda’ and a wig called ‘The Evangelista’ was produced which allowed people to copy it.
Evangelista’s ever-changing hairstyles and colours led to her becoming known as ‘The Chameleon’ in the fashion industry, in reference to her constant reinvention.
Alongside her modelling career Evangelista has also been known for her work as an advocate in HIV/AIDS research.
After decades working on-and-off in the fashion industry, Evangelista has gone somewhat quiet over the last few years. But in 2022 she broke her silence and explained her absence.
Speaking to People magazine, she claimed she had been ‘brutally disfigured’ by a body contouring procedure.
She told the magazine: ‘I can’t live like this anymore, in hiding and shame. I just couldn’t live in this pain any longer. I’m willing to finally speak.’
After visiting a doctor, she was diagnosed with paradoxical adipose hyperplasia.
However, despite spending years out of the limelight, she supermodel proves last year her star had not faded in the slightest in a covershoot for Vogue.
In an interview with the magazine, she revealed she had drank and eaten unhealthy food during her younger years, but she claimed she never touched drugs.
She said: ‘Drugs were offered to me, but I never touched them. I’m not saying I was an angel… but I was terrified of drugs.’
Evangelista has since settled a lawsuit with the company which offers the contouring procedure, but she revealed she has not mentally recovered from the way her body changed.
However she added: ‘I’m so grateful for the support I got from my friends and from my industry.’
Read more:
- Cindy Crawford uses a Ziploc bag to protect her hair as she sits in a jacuzzi – as Los Angeles collectively loses its mind over the deluge it has seen over the past few days
- Tatjana Patitz tributes: Cindy Crawford, Eva Herzigova, Helena Christensen share messages after Vogue model dies at 56 from breast cancer
- ‘My little bean and I’: Naomi Campbell cradles her 19-month-old daughter in a carousel of sweet snaps from New Year’s Eve
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