Fashion icon HELENA CHRISTENSEN reflects on a history-making career, life with her son, Mingus, and finding meaning through her passion projects.
HELENA CHRISTENSEN enters the studio wearing a colourful vintage Mexican folk dress, a pair of Tkees flipflops and a Hello Kitty basket tote bag. “I just found this website of a woman who travels through Mexico and buys beautiful vintage pieces, and this just came in the mail,” Christensen says of her newly acquired dress. “Can you believe it? How cool is this?” she continues, glowing with childlike excitement — the bright outfit instantly appearing as a perfect projection of her personality.
“I always stay a child inside,” says Christensen, 48. “I always stay very curious about life. Sometimes I actually think to myself, ‘Should you not try to grow up soon and be like an actual adult?’ Even my son sometimes says, ‘Mum, can you just reply to me, like, you know, a parent would?’” she says of her 17-year-old son, Mingus Reedus, whom she had with her former partner, actor Norman Reedus (currently in TV series The Walking Dead).
“It’s funny,” Christensen continues, “because when we go home to Denmark, I totally become the daughter again, and it’s me and Mingus just hanging out, being like rowdy kids, and my mum will be the total mum again. I literally feel like getting down on all fours, playing with Lego again. Maybe something is wrong. Maybe I should find a therapist.”
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