Lena Dunham covers the October issue of Marie Claire UK, and here is most of the editorial. Yes, her mouth is open in EVERY SINGLE PHOTO. Yes, she’s trying to make “sexyface” in every photo. Sigh… you know, I actually sort of like Lena. I mean, I think she’s annoying and I don’t watch Girls, but I respect her and what she’s trying to do and I think she gets so unnecessary and misogynistic crap thrown her way. But on this photoshoot, I can’t really defend her. She looks so… weird? I’m struggling to find the right word for how this editorial makes me feel. Like, I feel sorry for her. Like all of the stuff she’s said about how she’s proud of the way she looks is all for naught because when push comes to shove, she’d rather just look like every other cutesy, try-hard, open-mouth-because-it’s-sexy actress/model.
Here are some highlights from the interview:
On going to weekly therapy sessions: “There are days I totally don’t feel like doing it , but it’s like exercise. Except I am more likely to go for therapy than exercise.”
She’s still on antidepressants: “I take a tiny bit of Lexapro [an antidepressant] and I keep Klonopin [an anti anxiety medication] in my purse just in case.”
On getting naked so often in Girls: “I don’t think I’d be able to do that if I didn’t think it was essentially important in my contribution to the world. I don’t think I’d be able to do this and put myself in all these situations on camera that are kind of humiliating and uncomfortable. Nobody wants to sit there doggy-style for ten hours while they shoot or whatever. It’s not sexy or glamorous.”
Dating fun’s Jack Antonoff: “It just wasn’t something that I thought would happen to me. I imagined that situation less than running a show or writing a book. I didn’t envision someone who would understand where I was coming from in this way.”
On body image: ‘My parents both have really healthy attitudes about their own bodies but also about the range of things that can be beautiful. But they also just always made me feel pretty and cool and smart, even in the moments when I have known – and still know – that my body wasn’t fitting into a traditional Hollywood idea of the female body. This could very easily be taken out of context, and I think it’s funny now, but I remember looking in the mirror as a kid and it would be like for an hour at a time, and I’d be like: “I’m just so beautiful. Everybody is so lucky that they get to look at me.” And of course that changes as you get older, but I may have held on to that little-kid feeling that was me alone in my bathroom.’
She loves fashion: “I’m not saying I am a great candidate for the cover of a fashion magazine. But I do love clothes. People are always surprised to hear that – they think I walk around in a washcloth or something. I do think it takes fashion magazines a minute to be comfortable with variations of any kind. Adele is one of the most beautiful women in the world, but every time I see her on the cover, it’s like a crop of her face and it’s just so boring at this point. It’s such a boring conversation.’’
Being told by a stylist that sample sized women were easier to dress: “I’m like, ’Don’t say that to me.’ I mean, I have a fine sense of self esteem so I’ll be OK, but if you say that to another girl, she’ll literally go throw herself in front of a car. (Worrying about my body) is not, like, my area. Sometimes I will be like, ‘I feel bloated or outside myself today.’ But it’s so funny; sometimes I’ll see a picture of myself and be like, ’Oh, that’s not my best angle,’ but I just carry on.’’
[From Marie Claire UK & The Mail]
I agree with her about Adele and how magazines don’t know how to deal with Adele at all. Sidenote: I was re-watching Adele’s Oscar performance the other day and it occurred to me that Adele and Christina Hendricks are pretty much the same size except Christina has huge boobs. But isn’t it funny how Adele and Christina are treated completely differently by The Fashion Industrial Complex? Anyway, even though I agree with Lena about Adele and how The Fashion Industrial Complex doesn’t know what to do with women who don’t fit into a certain (sample-sized) box, I don’t think Lena is fighting the good fight by doing this editorial with her mouth hanging open. Right?
Photos courtesy of Marie Claire UK.
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