The fashion world is mourning the death of Tatjana Patitz (Picture: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Tatjana Patitz’s agent has confirmed she died of breast cancer.

The death of the Vogue model was announced on January 11 – she was only 56 years old.

The German-born model was widely-known for her contribution to the fashion industry, as she shot to stardom on runways in the 1980s and 90s as one of a few elite supermodels of the time.

The moment that etched her name in the fashion history books forever though, was when she and four others appeared in the now iconic British Vogue cover from January 1990, sporting Giorgio di Sant’ Angelo bodysuits and Levi jeans.

Tatjana, who leaves behind her 19-year-old son, Jonah, was also one of the same five models – namely, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington – to star in George Michael’s iconic Freedom! ’90 music video.

The model was born in Hamburg but moved to Sweden in her early childhood.

Pictured here in 2013, Tatjana enjoyed an incredible career at the forefront of the fashion industry (Picture: Manfred Laux/Getty Images)

The German-born supermodel’s portfolio of work is pretty spectacular (Picture: Pierre Vauthey/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

It was in Stockholm she began her incredible career at the age of 17 in 1983, when she was placed third in a modelling competition held by Elite – one of the world’s most successful agencies at the time.

What ensued was an illustrious career where she enjoyed many Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle front covers and worked the runway for Versace and Chanel on countless occasions.

The fashion world, shook by Tatjana’s untimely death, have paid their tributes.

Tatjana has been described as ‘kind’ with a ‘calm’ spirit (Picture: Ron Galella Collection via Getty)

‘Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti,’ said fashion legend Anna Wintour.

‘She was far less visible than her peers – more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable – and that had its own appeal.’

Fellow 90s model Cindy Crawford reminisced the good old days in an Instagram post where she shared a picture of them from the time, and wrote: ‘So sad to hear of the passing of the beautiful @tatjanapatitz.

‘We were babies together in the fashion industry and I feel like we grew up together. We were in so many shoots together and backstage at shows.

‘I found her soft-spoken, sensitive, kind, inquisitive and, who could ever forget those piercing eyes. Her love of animals and nature was infectious.

‘Sending my condolences to her family – especially the son she adored. RIP 🕊️💔🙏’

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Fellow model Helena Christensen also left a lengthy touching tribute for the late model, which wrote about their shared ‘love for nature’ and her ‘graceful and calm’ spirit.  

In her personal life, the Vogue cover star dated Pierce Brosnan and Nick Kamen before marrying Jason Johnson, with whom she shared Jonah, in 2003. The pair divorced six years later.

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Tributes have poured in for the late model.