Helena Christensen

Christensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, as the eldest of two daughters of a Danish father and a Peruvian mother. She is fluent in Danish, Spanish, and English as well as French and German. Winning the Miss Universe Denmark crown in 1986, at the age of just 17, she subsequently represented Denmark in the Miss Universe 1986 pageant. The following year, she participated in the Look of the Year 1987 competition, where she was a finalist. Christensen left home soon after to pursue modeling in Paris.\n', ' Christensen appeared on over 600 magazine covers—including Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and W—and in fashion campaigns (including Revlon, Chanel, Versace, Lanvin, Prada, Sonia Rykiel, Hermes, Valentino and Karl Lagerfeld) during the 1990s. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as one of the most popular models of her time and hailed as one of the supermodels by the media for her fame and popularity. One noted campaign featured her in a 20 by 40 feet (6 by 12 m) billboard in Times Square, bare, "except for a strategically placed banana leaf." She was in the Victoria\'s Secret catalog and in their television commercials as one of the signature "angels", along with Tyra Banks, Karen Mulder, Daniela Pestova, and Stephanie Seymour. She also became a spokesmodel for Revlon cosmetics in 1992. In 1991, she starred in the music video for Chris Isaak\'s song "Wicked Game". The video was later featured on MTV\'s "Sexiest Video of All-Time", voted #4 on VH1\'s "50 Sexiest Video Moments", and voted #13 on VH1\'s "100 Greatest Videos".\n', ' In 1996, Frank DeCaro of the New York Times cited Christensen, along with Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson and Claudia Schiffer, as "The Magnificent Seven". DeCaro reflected, "Known by their first names to legions of fans, they are the legends of the modern catwalk, the girl next door pretty underneath all the paint".\n', '