Helena Christensen Says ‘Take the Plunge’
IS IT COLD ENOUGH YET?: Helena Christensen joined Dodiee founder Elisa Dahan at a low-key cocktail party Tuesday night at the label’s pop-up store in New York’s SoHo.
Partial to designers who enhance women’s curves, Christensen said she loves Dodiee for that reason. Wearing a body-hugging black knit dress with an open back, the irony of the style she chose for the cocktail party was not overlooked. “It’s funny that I ended up wearing something black. I am a very colorful person. I usually never wear black. People are surprised when I do. The lavender is my number-one color. Hot pink? Yes! Also, the neon lime green is a very bold color to use in a collection and using it in curvaceous designs is a very bold, cool way to show off a woman’s body,” she said of the Dodiee line.
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Christensen, a photographer, still shoots daily and would like to do work for a newspaper. Over the past five years she has traveled to various refugee camps through her work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There, she has photographed legions of women and children, and has written about their personal stories. “That is what my real passion is: to photograph people around the world, to tell their stories and honor them with portraits,” Christensen said. “One of the things I am most anxious about is, ‘Is there enough time left for me to visit everywhere I would love to go to — to meet as many people as possible, experience as many cultures as possible?’”
As for her 23-year-old son Mingus Reedus’ modeling pursuits, she said the college student is more interested in music and on occasion will do a modeling job. “It’s a good way for him to save up money so that he can concentrate more on music and film, when he’s done [with school]. He creates all his music on his computer — he sings, he writes, produces the music and mixes it,” Christensen said. “It’s very interesting because it’s a mix of what I hoped might have influenced him from what I listened to when he was in my belly and growing up. Clearly, he has his own personal take on it. It’s very cool. I love it.”
While her Instagram posts about polar plunges have divided some followers, taking the plunge is routine for her. A video of her splashing in an icy river beneath falling snow generated nearly 22,700 comments earlier this week. Keen to inspire others to do it to reap the health benefits, Christensen noted how the frigid waters also offer mental ones. “We really need and want to feel a calm peace inside. Plunging like that resets everything — your brain, your body. Anything mental just goes [snapping her fingers for effect] to zero and restarts. It makes me very happy when people comment that I inspired them to do it,” she said. “That’s why I post them. Yes, it’s not easy. You have to start slowly but I crave it. Every time I am near water that I can get into [legally] I just jump in. I would do that in the Hudson [River] if that was possible, but it’s not,” she said, laughing.
Heading to Copenhagen for Christmas, Christensen is looking forward to enjoying some of the country’s historic traditions with her family. “And it’s my birthday the same day so it’s pretty good,” she said. That will include a Christmas-day plunge in Copenhagen Harbor. “That harbor water is actually very clean so you can jump into it.”
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