IN CONVERSATION WITH HELENA CHRISTENSEN
interview by JANA LETONJA
Supermodel, photographer, creative director, and humanitarian Helena Christensen’s multifaceted career has spanned over three decades. A defining face of the original supermodel era, Helena rose to international fame in the 1990s. In 2019, after four years of volunteer work, Helena was appointed a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, leveraging her global platform and photography to document the realities of refugees and displaced communities around the world. Today, she seamlessly weaves together her passions for fashion, art, design, and global advocacy.
dress MAGDA BUTRYM
You were part of the original supermodel era, a time that redefined global fashion. When you look back on that whirlwind, what stands out most to you?
The very unique bond that formed between us girls because we were in this crazy little boat together experiencing something so surreal and extraordinary at such a young age. Also, the fact that I worked with so many legendary photographers right before most of them passed away. For my photography specifically that surpassed all my wildest dreams.
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How has the modeling industry evolved since the 1990s, and what changes do you believe are still needed?
Any industry needs more diversity. Thankfully the fashion world has learned to appreciate beauty from all ethnicities and a variety of body shapes, but let’s keep going even more in that direction.
You have worked as a photographer alongside your modeling career. In fact, photography is what led you to the modeling world. What drew you to photography, and how has it changed your understanding of visual storytelling?
Photography to me is like breathing, it is life affirming and essential to my existence. I see everything around me as little framed visuals. My eyes constantly observe and I’m curious about everything in front of me. Visual storytelling is my way of communicating most profoundly how I feel inside and who I really am.
dress MELITA BAUMESTIER
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Your work has been exhibited internationally. What themes or emotions do you find yourself most often drawn to as a photographer?
Nature is a huge part of my photography. The ocean, water, birds, flora and fauna. My home resembles nature in so many ways. I am closest to myself in nature and in water so my work reflects nature in an almost intimate way. My nature photography is me laid bare.
You’ve worn many creative hats — co-founding Nylon, running a concept store, and now leading artistic direction for brands like Strangelove and Bo Concept. What drives your creative choices across such varied platforms?
I have always been curious about life on so many levels, history, art and architecture being some of my greatest passions. Since I was in my very early 20s, I have saved up any money I earned and renovated and decorated very old, small dilapidated places from scratch. It’s kind of my life work besides photography. I am always looking at buildings and reading up on the history of cities and its architecture. To me, the world in front of my eyes is an explosion of inspiration and I absorb as much as I can, and constantly have this inner creative dialogue happening. The BoConcept artistic director position has been a dream come true, a way for me to express and realize my ideas, and also to learn so much more which I’m always trying to.
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Your fragrance work with Strangelove blends scent and storytelling. How do you approach translating emotion into something so sensory?
It kind of comes naturally to me. Scent is my strongest sense. I am obsessed with scents, captivated by the powerful memories I experience all throughout the day with every breath I take. Creating perfume has been such a beautiful process, finding names for the scents, developing packaging, deciding on color themes, all areas I immerse myself deeply in. The first thing that happens when I meet someone is me having a profound reaction to their scent.
Your role as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador has taken you to some of the most vulnerable corners of the world. What has that experience taught you about resilience, both personal and global?
Traveling to refugee camps as a photographer storyteller with the UNHCR is the work I am the proudest of in my life, and a responsibility that I take very seriously. To me, it’s such a huge personal honor to have been chosen by such an immensely important organization.
You’ve remained relevant and respected across decades—a rarity in any industry. What’s your personal definition of longevity and reinvention?
I don’t think I’ve ever reinvented myself. I’m not sure I could. I just always stay curious and open about everything around me and flow along with life in an organic way or basically, I trust my gut instinct and stay true to myself. I’ve never made specific plans or had great ambitions, to me life is more of a very personal journey that I try to learn from and live fully. Longevity in this business could perhaps come from that, or maybe it’s just luck.
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What advice would you give to young women trying to build multifaceted careers that combine art, purpose, and business?Don’t change yourself for anyone. Only for yourself.
At this stage in your life and career, what fuels your passion most — beauty, impact, or something else entirely?
It’s always been the same things that fuels me, since I was a little girl, floating along with the current of sea or river water, listening to birds and learning to whistle the way they sing, jazz music playing on my little old radio while the rain pours outside, the taste of great simple food, the smell of roses, old books, gasoline, snow, pine trees, lying on the floor curled up with a dog, watching a movie or reading a book that touches you deeply, catching someone’s eyes and feel a shiver, an old person telling you a story from their life, moss, neon green moss with pearls of morning dew…
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dress MAGDA BUTRYM
dress MELITA BAUMESTIER
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boots TIBI
TEAM CREDITS:
talent HELENA CHRISTENSEN
photography AGATA SERGE
styling BÁRBARA VÉLEZ
hair HIRO + MARI
makeup CHRISTYNA KAY
styling assistant AMY AGUILAR
gaffer DEVON JARVIS
production JEAN JARVIS AT AREA1202
production coordinator NIKA BREGVADZE
lab ART LAB SPOKOJNA
prints TOMASZ ORŁOWSKI
editor TIMI LETONJA
interview JANA LETONJA
cover design ARTHUR ROELOFFZEN
