4 1GT Monday November 9 2020 | the times

times

The female body?

In Denmark we are

taught that it’s not

anything to hide

Helena Christensen tells Anna Murphy about love, body

confidence — and why she’s still happy to wear a corset

Instagram was classy: another

enbonpoint pic, with the hashtag

oopssheworeabustieragain, and the

caption, “Let’s continue to elevate and

support each other, all you beautiful,

smart, fun, sexy, hard-working,

talented, nurturing women out there.”

Fellow models were among the

hundreds who put it more strongly

in their comment on her post. Naomi

Campbell called it a “cheap shot” and

Linda Evangelista said of Shulman,

“She should be ashamed of herself.”

Shulman’s successor at Vogue, Edward

Enninful, commented — with the

pointedness that has defined the pair’s

relations in public — “BEAUTIFUL

inside and out.” Today Christensen

won’t talk about the brouhaha directly.

“I don’t want to hurt people.”

When I ask her if she thinks women

can be more harsh on each other than

men she says: “Women are harsh in

some ways, men are idiots in other

ways. Some women have that attitude.

Some men act in a Me Too way. Both

groups suck. It’s just not the way to be.

We need to lift each other up. We all

have the same insecurities. I don’t

know how long it is going to take us

to realise that we are all in the same

boat, and so none of the critical

attitudes help in any way at all.”

Which brings us to modelling’s

moment in the Me Too spotlight,

the most recent manifestation of

which pertains to Gérald Marie, 70,

the former European chief of the

modelling agency Elite and — as it

happens — ex-husband of one Linda

Evangelista. Marie is facing legal

investigation in France after four

I

get only the briefest gander

at Helena Christensen on

FaceTime before her wifi fails us

and we switch to an audio call.

It’s enough, arguably too much,

for my lockdowned, trackpanted

self. She looks supremely on-

brand, gobsmackingly gorgeous.

The Danish model who came to global

fame as one of the original “supers” in

the 1990s is lounging on a hotel bed

somewhere in the Bahamas in a cami

top, looking sunkissed, sexy and

toffee-apple shiny. She is there on

a swimwear photoshoot. “But there’s

been heavy rainfall, so we haven’t

got much done.”

Christensen, 51, insists that she has

let standards slip this year, during

which she spent five months at her

second home, a wooden cottage in the

Catskills, a couple of hours from New

York City. “I had a great time in track

pants every day. It was comforting to

step into the same pair you had on the

day before, and a pair of woollen socks

and a big sweatshirt.”

Her fellow escapees from the

city were her son, Mingus, 21, and

“some friends”. She is separated from

Mingus’s father, the actor Norman

Reedus, and won’t comment on

her present romantic status, yet

does say, “I’ve only ever been in very

long relationships. Once I get in a

relationship, I stick with it. I don’t give

up easily and I’m very loyal that way.

But I’m also very loyal to myself.”

A self-described foodie — one of the

joys of modelling for her has been “to

travel the world eating all the different

food” — she cooked three meals a

day for six people throughout. “I tried

hard to make every one an exquisite

experience. I wanted to keep our

spirits up. It saved me emotionally,

but after five months of cooking and

cleaning I was, like, ‘Enough’.

“Aside from Covid and all the rest,”

she continues, “I was grateful that I

was able to spend that time in nature

with my son. And the track pants.”

She laughs. “They were just an

added bonus.” As for her hair, “You

can work hours to get bed hair with

a professional team. Or you can just

wake up in the morning and it’s there.”

What about make-up? “Yes, I put on

full make-up every morning for the

bears,” she jests.

There were still shoots, though. “We

had boxes sent with clothes that I had

to either shoot on myself or shoot on

the people I was quarantining with.”

(The Beautiful People do quarantine.)

And her regular wild swimming forays

with her fellow Dane Camilla Staerk

— with whom she runs a swimwear-

focused brand Staerk & Christensen

— would often turn into a shoot too.

“When we went to the river to swim

we were, like, OK, let’s bring a few

suits and a lipstick, and then we’d

quickly knock off a few shots.” What

did the ducks make of that? “It was

bald-headed eagles.” Ah, right.

Our conversation today has come

about as the result of a collaboration

with the cult brand Anine Bing,

founded by a Danish (spot the theme)

former model. It’s been a favourite

with the fashion pack since it launched

in Los Angeles in 2012 for what Bing

calls “the off-duty model look”.

“I live near the store in the West

Village,” Christensen says, “and I have

always enjoyed finding cool stuff in

there. One day I ran into Anine, and

we clicked.” The result is an 11-piece

collection that launches tomorrow

and ranges from the casual — jeans

and a slogan tee (£199 and £89,

aninebing.com) — to the killer —

the black bustier Bing bodysuit (£159).

It’s 26 years since Gianni Versace

declared her to have “the most

beautiful body in the world”, not that

you’d know it. (She posts stupefying

workouts on Instagram.) And it’s 18

months since the nonsense that was

bustiergate, when Alexandra Shulman,

the former editor of Vogue, slated

Christensen for wearing — nay,

rocking — a Staerk-designed bustier

to Gigi Hadid’s birthday party. I can’t

imagine a better riposte to bustiergate

than the portrait of Christensen in

that bodysuit: kick-ass in every sense.

“Surely you should call time on Ann

Summers style,” said Shulman, who

later conceded that “it wasn’t my finest

hour”. Christensen’s non-response on

women — including the former top

model Carré Otis — came forward

in September with claims of rape and

sexual assault dating back to the 1980s

and 1990s. There is no suggestion that

Evangelista knew of the abuse, and

she has praised the women for

their “courage and strength”. She

has also said that, “Based on my

own experiences, I believe that

they are telling the truth.”

Marie, who still works in the

modelling industry, denies the

allegations. In a statement to The

Sunday Times about the continuing

French investigation, he said: “It would

not be appropriate for me to comment

at this time on the allegations of

historic wrongdoing being made

against me, other than to make it

clear that I categorically deny them.”

Christensen is happy that Me Too

has come about — “Thank God for

all the courageous people who finally

spoke out” — but insists she was never

one of the Too’s. “From an early

age I just had a hardcore attitude

towards anyone who made me feel

uncomfortable in any way. I would

be very vocal about it.”

So is she saying that it was her

attitude that kept her safe? “I can’t

really know if it’s because I was

fortunate or because of my attitude.

It’s a job where you are on your own

out there. You have to handle all sorts

of situations as a young girl, and that

matures you from the get-go. I came

from a very tight-knit family in

Denmark, and my parents [Danish

father, Peruvian mother] instilled a lot

Above and right:

Helena Christensen

for Anine Bing.

Above right: at Gigi

Hadid’s 24th birthday

party in New York last

year. Below: with fellow

supermodels Carla

Bruni, Claudia Schiffer,

Naomi Campbell

and Cindy Crawford

at the Versace show

during Milan Fashion

Week 2017

Women are harsh

in some ways.

Men are idiots

in other ways