history repeating

Helena Christensen joins a queer leather gang for an iconic reason

Helena Christensen
Helena Christensen (Photo: Shutterstock)

Supermodel Helena Christensen has shared a photo of herself with a queer gang of leather-clad lovelies. The story behind the image is heartwarming.

Christensen, 54, was one of the biggest supermodels in the world in the early 1990s. For a 1991 shoot for Vogue, she and eight other big names posed for the late photographer Peter Lindbergh. He shot them wearing leather jackets in Brooklyn. Many now regard the ‘Wild Ones’ photo as an iconic image of the time.

On Friday, the Danish model revealed she recently came across a photo paying homage to that original image. It was shared by the Instagram account @theequeercoven and taken by photographer Pedro Quintana in Barcelona.

Christensen was blown away by the loving recreation. She got in touch with the digital creator who organized it: Barry Brandon (@thequeerindigo). She suggested recreating it in New York, where the original shot was taken, and said she wanted to be involved.

“Inclusivity, unity, lots of laughter and love”

Here’s how it all went down in Christensen’s own words.

“A few months back I came across an IG photo that stopped me in my tracks. Wait, huh? I had to look twice,” Christensen said on Instagram.

“It was a visual I knew very well and yet, something was different. It was a perfect reenactment of the iconic @therealpeterlindbergh motorcycle gang portrait with 8 of us girls but with the inspiring, talented, fun gang that is @thequeercoven.

“I immediately thought wow kinda crazy no one had done that before. I got in contact with @thequeerindigo who had organized the shoot and asked if they would do it again and include me. And that’s what happened 💥 It was the best day, we put together similar outfits, found the exact corner in Dumbo the original shot was taken and paraded up and down the street brazing a cold winter storm but there was so much warmth and joy amongst us, we laughed and shared stories and after the shoot we ended up in a little cool store with the owners making us all hot coffee watching a dance performance by the talented voguer @hanabithek.

“Thank you to everyone involved, this day was about inclusivity, unity, lots of laughter and love love love.”

Among those to comment were the models, Iman, who said, “Love it” and Claudia Schiffer, who posted a love heart. Schiffer also features in the original 1991 photo. Actress Julianne Moore said, “So good 👏👏👏”

Brandon posted a behind-the-scenes video to their Instagram.

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