Helena Christensen Covers AMAZING MAGAZINE | The Inaugural Issue
Helena Christensen wears Christian Louboutin for issue 1 of AMAZING magazine. Photographed at home in New York City by Alexi Lubomirski, the supermodel and photographer tells Jennifer Lynn about her true passions in life, her go-to self-care methods and the importance of her female friendships.
Models don’t come much more super than Helena Christensen. The former Miss Universe Denmark has walked for everyone from Versace to Thierry Mugler, starred in campaigns for Chanel and Prada, appeared in the Pirelli Calendar and been one of the original Victoria’s Secret Angels – yet it’s her work behind the camera that truly brings Helena joy. “I was photographing before I was modelling and it’s my true passion in life,” she writes over email, while on a trip to South Africa a week or so after our shoot. “I photograph every day; I frame everything I see with my eyes. It’s a way of discovering all the little interesting and beautiful details about life for me.”
Take a quick scroll through Helena’s Instagram and you’ll see plenty of those details: sunsets and storms, selfies and snaps of friends, model son Mingus Lucien Reedus (her only child with former partner, actor Norman Reedus) and her beloved dog, Kuma. “She’s a mini Australian [Shepherd] and she’s five years old,” says Helena. “She comes with me anywhere I can take her. She is my little guardian angel.” Furry friends aside, Helena has also photographed Gigi Hadid for the cover of Vogue Czechoslovakia (admittedly there were horses involved) and her portfolio includes works with Julianne Moore, Brooke Shields and Naomi Campbell. On her shoot playlist? “I usually ask for Depeche Mode – for any moment in life.”
Helena also lends her innate photography skills to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with her role as a global ambassador taking her to Jordan, Rwanda, Colombia and Ukraine. “I’ve worked as an ambassador for UNHCR for about four years,” she says. “I go on expeditions with them all over the world as a photographer and writer. We visit refugee camps and share the stories, especially of the women, with the world.” Her current trip to South Africa is another philanthropic adventure, this time with Veterans Empowered To Protect African Wildlife (VETPAW), which she has been documenting on her Instagram Stories.
However, for AMAZING, Copenhagen-born Helena – who is half Danish, half Peruvian – played supermodel to photographer Alexi Lubomirski’s lens. Shot at her longtime home in New York City’s West Village, the backdrop provides further insight into Helena’s passions: a framed poster from a Roger Ballen photography retrospective at Copenhagen’s Nikolaj Kunsthal arts centre on the wall and stacks of Casa Vogue on the coffee table, alongside a copy of The Divine Sarah: A Life of Sarah Bernhardt, a biography of the French actress.
For Helena’s full interview and shoot, plus other AMAZING women, fashion and lifestyle features, order your copy of AMAZING’s debut issue now.
Helena Christensen wears Christian Louboutin
Photographed by Alexi Lubomirski
Styled by Miguel Enamorado represented by Home Agency
Interview by Jennifer Lynn
Hair by Jacob Rozenberg represented by Statement Artists
Makeup by Maki H represented by The Wall Group
Manicure by Mo Qin represented by The Wall Group
Produced by Emily Ullrich, Aurora Wardlaw at North Six Productions
Production by Alida Zimmerman
Cover Design by Olivia Woodgate
Cover Design by Olivia Woodgate
Editorial Director Huw Gwyther
Photography Assistants Diego Benduzu, Johnny Kompar and Andrew Espinal
Digital Technician Hope Christerson
Styling Assistant Ashly Tsao