Helena Christensen is "grateful" she started modelling before social media was created.
The 49-year-old supermodel ruled the fashion world in the ’90s and along with Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson and Claudia Schiffer was dubbed ‘The Magnificent Seven’ of the catwalk.
Christensen has an Instagram account which she enjoys using but she is glad she didn’t have to be logged on for self-promotion at the height of her career because she believes social media has taken away the "mystery" from modeling.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, she said:"[Social media] is in some ways very positive but at the same time I am so grateful that I started modeling at a time where we didn’t have to take all that into consideration because that adds a whole different dimension and it becomes completely different. There was mystery of just being the girl in the photo and you can make up your own stories about it, nowadays it’s all in your face."
The Danish beauty – who is an avid photographer and loves to share all different types of images on her Instagram account – is also a critic of the fashion industry’s obsession with how many followers a model has on social media and that data being used to book girls for jobs.
She added: "I don’t think it’s great that people are measured in numbers, clients will book you if you have a lot of followers so they can get free ads in there and yes I see the commercial benefit of that but sometimes so much else is lost in judging or choosing people for that reason."
However, Helena – who has 18-year-old son Mingus with her former partner Norman Reedus – loves to use photography as a way of "connecting" to others in the world because she sometimes feels "alienated" by the internet.
She said: "There’s something very beautiful about the world sharing stories and images because it can feel very alienated at times being in this world with everything going on you don’t necessarily feel more social or surrounded by people, but sometimes you feel more lonely with it, because you’re being bombarded every day.
"So in that there’s a kind of beauty of sharing very personal things which can connect you, and photography is a great way for that, it’s one of the most powerful tools in the world we have to share emotions and moments and the visual affect has a very emotional affect."
Christensen was speaking to promote her collaboration with Huawei to launch their latest smartphone, the Huawei P20 Pro which is available nationwide now.
Helena Christensen: Social media has removed the mystery from modelling
