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This page and opposite Helena Christensen, 1 Shirt by Maison Mayle. Jeans by Dôen. Slit bootlets by Staerk & REPRO OP Christensen SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

Into the

normal day at Helena Christensen’s bolthole in “I always say that I have been like Pippi Longstocking the Catskills could be filed under “idyllic”. For grown up because my homes look exactly like her house,” the model and photographer, wild swimming, she laughs, during our transatlantic phone call. “She A woodland walks and staging alfresco photo- was a kid living in a crazy-peculiar home with a lot of shoots is the “new normal”, thanks to an strange objects, and I have always been searching for extended stay in her upstate New York weekend abode that.” Her stylish “valley cottage” is certainly not a care- with her 20-year-old son, Mingus (whose father is Chris- fully curated set-up. Christensen credits her ad hoc The Danish Helena Christensen has created the tensen’s former partner, the actor Norman Reedus), and approach and the rustic but refined interior design to perfect hideaway in upstate New York. Here, as both her friend and business partner Camilla Staerk. her dual heritage (her father is Danish, her mother Peru- A peep inside Christensen’s stormy-blue clapboard vian) and a lifelong passion for collecting. “I don’t even photographer and subject in an exclusive shoot for Style, she house, situated in a valley with a creek running through know how to name this aesthetic,” she says. “I love a mix it, is like a virtual tour of the 51-year-old’s past life. From of real, old-school antiques, but also 1950s Danish shares an intimate portrait of her lovingly curated retreat, and the glass walls in the converted barn, repurposed from modernism that is elegant with a classic feel. I also love tells Jane McFarland why she has fallen for the simple life the walk-in wardrobe in her West Village apartment, to the colonial style of the American South, so it’s a very the vintage bedding sourced from the nearby towns eclectic mix. A lot of different styles, but somehow it Photographs Helena Christensen Styling Camilla Staerk Kingston and Woodstock, everything tells a story. works by it not working.”

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It was during a photoshoot that Christensen first Determined to create a weekend escape from their stumbled across the area, a two-hour drive from her hectic urban lifestyle andundeterred by the ambitious Manhattan apartment. “I wasn’t even looking to buy a undertaking, Christensen recruited a local “pirate team” house, but I was doing a photoshoot with my friend of builders (“They were the coolest-looking guys ever Fabrizio Ferri, who had this beautiful cottage on a and they thought I was crazy”) to create what is now a magical piece of land nearby. My son was on the shoot four-bedroom house filled with antiques, where friends with me and he spent the day playing with lizards and family convene for weekends year-round. The light- and snakes.” That image stayed with Christensen, and filled barn houses another two bedrooms and a bathtub. when Ferri called her later to say the perfect property The first thing she did was rip the space apart to create Clockwise from top left The bathtub was found in Harlem in a big warehouse full of furniture, most of it from old hotels was for sale, he put down the deposit before she had a large, open-plan kitchen with poured-concrete floors and cruise ships. The life ring is from a Connecticut antiques even visited it. “I’ve always wanted my son to be as much and industrial worktops. “The meals are getting more market: ‘I am obsessed with anything maritime and have a nature boy as a city boy,” she says. “I love kids growing and more elaborate,” she says, admitting the kitchen anchors on a lot of objects.’ Helena’s dog Kuma loves the day up in the city, the mentality they have, the sort of street- has become the heart of the house. “I’m not usually bed in the corner of the dining room. ‘In the glass cabinet wiseness, but nature is equally important. It’s all about a breakfast person, but now breakfast rolls into lunch, there are records for decoration,’ she says. ‘This one, by U2, the balance.” which rolls into afternoon tea and then dinner.” has the Edge’s daughter and Bono’s son on the cover’

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Left ‘I love old still-life oil paintings with fruit, flowers or ceramics. I’m always searching for them in every antique store Helena Christensen, 3 or flea market I go to’

A proper foodie, she applies the same impromptu combined made me want to become a photographer and REPRO OP 1 approach to cooking as she does to design, forgoing experience nature all over the world, and also be an recipes and precise measurements in favour of an archaeologist. Somehow I became all of it.” intuitive approach to flavours and taste. “I absorbed a She fails to mention her modelling career as one of the lot growing up in a South American household,” she “magnificent seven”, as she, , Linda says, “and I’m continually inspired by Jamie Oliver.” Evangelista, , , Elle The windows and doors remain open throughout Macpherson and were dubbed in the SUBS the day, and Christensen often takes a book (and a 1990s. Even at the height of her fame — frolicking with cocktail) onto her porch to enjoy the natural soundtrack in the Bruce Weber-directed video for Wicked of crickets and frogs. “It has been a dream of mine Game and fronting Revlon campaigns — she felt since I was little to have a porch like they have in the removed from the glamour and glitterati, despite her South. I have a scene in my head about road-tripping five-year relationship with the late Michael Hutchence. through the South in slow motion, driving past all the In fact remaining on the periphery is something she has

ART houses with porches. There’s usually an older person always sought. 2 sitting in a rocking chair, with a pipe, waving at you. I “I’ve never lived very differently [to how I do now]. I’m wanted to recreate that whole feeling.” not a hugely active person who runs around, works like During our chat she talks about the merits of an crazy and is totally stressed out. Since I started working, THE MODEL YEARS outdoor life at great length, recalling a childhood I’ve always maintained a balance and always had periods spent “roaming by myself ” in Denmark. “My mum when I wasn’t working, but also being more creative 5 would have to come and find me in a nearby cornfield, outside of modelling,” she says. She quit full-time model- PRODUCTION where I was digging for Second World War relics and ling when Mingus was born and set about creating flint stones, or doll parts, broken ceramics, broken various homes while pursuing other projects. “Having a plates and pieces of glass,” she says. “That’s probably space to be grounded — literally, with your feet planted one of my first memories — not only obsessed with in the earth — has always been important to me, to have being outside in nature, but also with history. The two a home in your life that you look forward to coming back to,” she says. “It’s how I’ve felt about everywhere I’ve

CLIENT lived. When I had Mingus, I wanted to create a nurturing, loving atmosphere around him, where he would always Get the look Mix and match natural materials and textures feel filled up with that safe feeling of childhood.” She still models of course and remains “plugged in”, even from the depths of her retreat. Over the course of 3 lockdown, her social media followers have been treated 3 to a series of at-home photoshoots, showcasing the latest 4 swimwear designs from her brand Staerk & Christensen, which is currently donating 30% of its profits to 1 2 2 Citymeals on Wheels in New York.“It has been a real , AW92. Helmut 3 family affair. Mingus is at film school in New York, so Lang, SS93. , 1 AW91. 4 Jean-Charles de we’ve done lots of little movie shoots. We’ve all been Castelbajac, SS90. 5 Dior each other’s photographers, actors and models!” haute couture, 1993. Christensen is too cool for most self-isolation clichés, 6 With Carla, Claudia, 4 but even she has succumbed to a Zoom drinks party, Donatella, Naomi and Cindy recently posting a snapshot of a video call with friends at Versace, SS18 Julianne Moore and Laura Dern. Stylish Instagram posts aside, the days start with a fresh pot of coffee made by 5 6 whoever is up first in the household. “I try to hold out for as long as possible, but the mornings are really special here,” she says. She’ll go for a run through the trees with 7 her sidekick Kuma, an Australian shepherd and “the most photogenic dog ever”, before taking a quick plunge in the stream. At dusk the trio retreat to Christensen’s new favourite spot in the house, a smaller living room lined with books and candles, for a drink before dinner. 6 8 She may have failed to crack meditation or growing her own vegetables during lockdown, but she certainly paints 1 Rattan-sided plant stand, £120; hm.com. 2 Stoneware jug, £30; habitat.co.uk. 3 Rug, £44 for a picture of contentment: “I can literally be outside all 89cm x 150cm, World Menagerie; wayfair.co.uk. 4 Cane table lamp, £95; frenchconnection.com. 5 Reclaimed iron day, just wandering through forests and wading through tray mirror, £395; nkuku.com. 6 Velvet cushion, £39; designersguild.com. 7 Zinc planter, £40; sarahraven.com. rivers with a camera, taking pictures. I would be fine 8 Folding wicker chair, £230; zarahome.com GETTY GROUP. D’MANAGEMENT AT MODEL: HELENA CHRISTENSEN ACEVEDO. ELIZABETH STAERK, CAMILLA ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: doing this for the rest of my life.” @jane _ mcfarland

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