Lena Dunham covers Vogue: do you love or hate the Annie Leibovitz shoot?

lena1

Lena Dunham covers the February issue of Vogue. Again, when a magazine “has” to put an average-sized woman on the cover, they generally go with a headshot so the general public won’t be SHOCKED and appalled by a larger-than-size-zero woman on the cover of a magazine. Even though I feel like I should hate the cover shot, I don’t. It’s kind of cute and retro, it reminds me a bit of the mod cover shots of the 1960s. The Annie Leibovitz photo shoot is kind of blah though – Adam Driver poses with Lena for some of the shots, and I swear, he looks like he hates her in at least one of the photos.

You can read the Vogue article here – I’m only halfway through the piece because I can really only tolerate/like Lena in very small doses, but it seems like a pretty typical breathlessly sycophantic Vogue article. This is how Vogue describes Girls:

Since Girls launched in 2012, the 27-year-old Dunham has become to comic television roughly what Bob Dylan was to sixties folk: She’s not the first person to wield her form and her subject (middle-class postcollegiate life), but she does it with such unmatched skill, charisma, and vision that she’s now the genre’s uncontested master, the standard other people strive to reach. After the show won the Golden Globe for its first season, networks rushed to fill their slots with Girls-like sitcoms. Young people chase small-screen careers the way that they previously dreamed of movie-house immortality. Dunham’s ability to speak for a hyperconnected generation rich in entitled ambition but poor in practical know-how has carved a trenchant cultural portrait; in her shadow, TV comedy has started seeming relevant again—and very cool.

[From Vogue]

For the love of God. I’m not one of those Girls-is-the-root-of-all-TV-evil people, but we don’t need to compare it to BOB DYLAN. Enough. Anyway, here are some quotes from Lena:

Sex scenes & nudity: “There was a sense that I and many women I knew had been led astray by Hollywood and television depictions of sexuality. Seeing somebody who looks like you having sex on television is a less comfortable experience than seeing somebody who looks like nobody you’ve ever met.”

Her on-screen relationship with Patrick Wilson: “Critics said, ‘That guy wouldn’t date that girl!’ It’s like, ‘Have you been out on the street lately?’ Everyone dates everyone, for lots of reasons we can’t understand. Sexuality isn’t a perfect puzzle, like, ‘He has a nice nose and she has a nice nose! She’s got great breasts and he’s got great calves! And so they’re going to live happily ever after in a house that was purchased with their modeling money!’ It’s a complicated thing. I want people ultimately, even if they’re disturbed by certain moments, to feel bolstered and normalized by the sex that’s on the show.”

Meeting her boyfriend: “I’d been like, If I never date again in my whole life, I’ll be fine with it! I want to work and rescue rabbits and be a notable eccentric!” she says. “I had a whole romantic idea about singledom, and then, of course, that’s the moment when you meet someone that you really care about.”

Her private existence: “I have a really great private existence, almost more like a memoirist or a columnist would, and less like an actor would,” she says. “Which I enjoy, because I can’t overstate how much I hate leaving the house.” Dunham sees her apartment as an extension of herself: She couldn’t undertake bold feats of self-disclosure in public—the stories of her sexual history, the portraits of her family life, the nakedness—if she didn’t have it to return to. “No one would describe me as a private person, but I actually really am,” she explains. “It’s important for me to have a lot of time alone, and to have a lot of time in my house by myself. My entire life sort of takes place between me and my dog, my books, and my boyfriend, and my private world. To me, privacy isn’t necessarily equated with secret-keeping. What’s private is my relationship with myself.”

LA: Dunham spends several weeks each fall in Los Angeles, where both Apatow and Konner have families: It is easiest to do video editing for one season, and brainstorming for the next, on the West Coast. “I like Los Angeles, but more than two weeks and I start to get a very sad feeling,” she explains. “You eat well there, and you take hikes, and my dog”—a rescue pet named Lamby—“loves it, but ultimately it’s not the right place for me.” In most contexts, she still feels like a Hollywood outsider. “I went early on to a party at a really famous person’s house. They had a private chef there making pizza, and I remember the dog was wearing a bow tie. Every time I looked around, it would be like, Is that someone I know from camp? No, that’s Ashton Kutcher. It was such a weird scene. I remember thinking, I don’t feel at home here, and no matter how long this is my job, I will never feel at home here. And if I do start to feel at home here”—her brow furrows—“someone should really worry about me.”

Her teenage years: Even in high school, though, she found good company in books; the young Dunham was a fan of Philip Roth, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath, whose confessional style struck a chord. She came to regard candor as a powerful inventive tool: one that offered the energetic release of an uncorked bottle but also created a bond between artist and audience. It promised something better for her, too. “I had really bad OCD. I was really lonely at school. I felt a lot of shame,” she explains. “Seeing what I thought was people lightening their own load, or lifting their own burdens, by writing about them or singing about them just made the world seem more open.”

[From Vogue]

Ugh, okay, I just skimmed the whole piece. It’s a whole lotta Lena, so I wouldn’t recommend reading the whole thing unless you already like her and think she’s some kind of genius. I guess that’s my big problem: it’s not that I dislike or disagree with Lena about most things, it’s that I can’t stand how everyone treats her like she’s the most creative and interesting person of her generation. She’s not. At all. And that’s not on her, that’s on her fans and the professional culture people who have promoted her and talked her up to this point.

lena4

lena5

Photos courtesy of VOGUE/Annie Leibovitz.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

143 Responses to “Lena Dunham covers Vogue: do you love or hate the Annie Leibovitz shoot?”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. LadyMTL says:

    I actually like the cover but holy mother of photoshop, have those other pics been altered.

    • Kyle says:

      “it’s that I can’t stand how everyone treats her like she’s the most creative and interesting person of her generation. ” Exactly. Lets face it. She is “the new Lady Gaga”. She is Gaga of TV… and look at Gaga today… few year after her Vogue cover. Sorry Gurl your career will be hot but not very long lasting.

      • bettyrose says:

        Worse than Gaga because of the nepotism. GEEZUS have your read her New Yorker articles whining about her unsuccessful love life? THE FREAKIN’ NEW YORKER! How many talented artists with something relevant to say will never even get close to being published in the New Yorker? This girl is riding some sick wave of family connections and delusions about her own self-importance, and I guess she’s the first feminist or something. Her fancy prep school and private college never taught her any real history. /end rant

    • BendyWindy says:

      I was just about to say, that not having watched Girls, and not being terribly familiar with her, it still looks like they airbrushed a pound or 20 off of her. Sad.

    • Christo says:

      Agreed. While I don’t find Lena to be extraordinarily attractive, I think Annie did an excellent job of playing up her attributes such as her eyes while softening and hiding the often clumsy and unkempt nature that Lena often conveys.

      Every time I see this girl with her lurching slouch and horrid tattoos, all I can think of is: DIRTY FEET. That is right…DIRTY FEET. She immediately conjures up the image and smells of a Frito-chip eating, Dr. Pepper swilling, sundress wearing, barefoot chick, who has dirt stains on her feet and chocolate Jell-O pudding in the corner of her mouth.

      • Meredith says:

        Cristo, your descriptions are vivid genius. I can see exactly what you mean. Now describe the pigeon-on-her-head shot! Please, please!

      • gg says:

        Omg I love this description.
        Some of the photos are heavily stretched vertically – is this intentional?

      • Milena says:

        omg, that is disgusting! I will never unsee that, thank you 😉

    • Belle Epoch says:

      Annie L did a brilliant job with the cover turning some of Lena’s flaws into assets and hiding the others. I find Lena really homely and doughy, with bad posture and bad taste – and awful tattoos! This shoot would have been a major challenge. I guess I should be happy that Vogue is featuring someone plain, but they also used a lot of tricks to upgrade her appearance. BTW Lena is allowed to be as anti-establishment as she wants – the interesting part is that this is Vogue.

  2. RHONYC says:

    i am currently plotting my egress from public everyday 9to5 life, and love being alone for days at a time so i totally get what she’s saying. 😉

    • YuYa says:

      I’m the same way. I love love love my house. It has everything I need or want. My friends have to drag my to go out the one or two times a month I decide to go out. And when I am out, I want to go right back home.

      • RHONYC says:

        great minds, haha!

        i feel the same. my bedroom i hard to leave it’s soooo comfortable. i love aromatherapy so i keep lots of candles, & scented oil going. next door i have a home office / gym (with my Treadclimber), great ballet & yoga dvds so i have what i need to stay in shape at home. my artistic pursuits have its own space as well & there’s plenty of light. the day i put my daily commute behind me is coming soon. i will post a huge ‘Hey-YO!’ when it does. :mrgreen:

      • Tiffany :) says:

        RHONYC, I am so jealous! Your place sounds like heaven! I have lived with my boyfriend for years and sometimes day dream about having my own space. My fantasy sounds like your reality! 🙂

      • Meredith says:

        I now live in a three bedroom house that always needs to be tended to somehow. I loved it when I lived in a 400 square foot studio apartment with a nice balcony. Life was simple and I loved just staying in my little space. My bedroom (so to speak) was in an alcove behind a curtain and I never made my bed.

      • gg says:

        YuYa, are you a Cancerian? We are homebodies. I hate going out too.

      • GreenTurtle says:

        Amen. I feel the same way, and am a Cancer like gg. 🙂

    • Linda says:

      Can I say I love you

    • ctkat1 says:

      Me too- a great weekend for me is to have no plans and spend 48 hours at home surfing the internet, watching the stockpiled DVR, reading an interesting book, and taking long walks (but always with headphones and sunglasses, so I don’t have to interact with anyone).

      I love being alone- I have friends, I like my friends, but I am a total introvert. Being around people is exhausting to me, and I need long stretches of alone time to recharge.

      • Porsha says:

        I am not so different after all – my husband makes out that I have a problem because I love staying home – my nightmare is spending a whole day at the mall – I hate being around strange loud annoying people and yep they are all at the mall

    • RHONYC says:

      thanx @ Tiffany! you can make yourself a woman cave, just carve out some ‘me’ space. hells bells, i know we all need a place to retreat when the boys are visiting with their mistress of the 50″ flatscreened football variety. 😆

  3. GlimmerBunny says:

    She has a beautiful face. That’s about it.

    • Moiselle says:

      Does she? I’ve never seen the show, but everything I’ve read about her paints her as a very ugly person on the inside. That is all I can see. Inside ugliness makes even the most beautiful person tarnished.

      • nofkksgiven says:

        there isn’t anything “ugly” about her personality. she is annoying in the sense that she is a rich white girl who finds herself addressing a publicly reinforced idea that she is very important. a lot of people don’t like that. they prefer humility even if it’s fake like jennifer lawrence.

        she is who she is. her experiences are her experiences. the show is decent and different but not earth-shattering. she is a young woman exploring basically with a ton of rich white hollywood support. something in all that is not relate-able or fun because she isn’t the happy pretty flirty aw-shucks type or a diva glorious love yourself i’m so different type – she’s just privileged and creative and successful and it grates on folk.

        but she isn’t ugly in any sense, i think thats overly harsh.

    • Thinkaboutit says:

      Beautiful? Seriously? ?

    • Ice Maiden says:

      Beautiful? She’s average at best.

    • ncmagnolia says:

      Beautiful, HUH??

      I guess everyone finds someone beautiful, but….? Something nice, though…if she’d worn the black dress in the shoot to the Golden Globes instead of the hideous, ill-fitting Zac Posen, I daresay she wouldn’t be on everyone’s Worst Dressed list. I know she’s photo-shopped to hell for this shoot, but the black is ok.

    • BooBooLaRue says:

      am thinking a young Liza Minnelli?

      • gg says:

        They’re trying. I do wish she’d break away from doing her hair like that. I know four-year-olds with that haircut. It’s not flattering but then she loves that doesn’t she?

      • gefeylich says:

        No – AnnE Hathaway is a young Liza Minelli. Dunham, for all her flaws and annoying nature, is just herself, which I guess is saying something.

        Really annoyed, though, that the cover was the usual “OMG she’s a fat girl FACE ONLY FACE ONLY!” photo. Why couldn’t they just put one of the fake elongated photoshopped photos on the cover?

    • cleo says:

      everything you said @nofkksgiven. great post.

  4. Shantal says:

    The dog is the cutest thing in these photos.

  5. Dani2 says:

    I like the cover photo…and nothing else, sadly.

  6. Sam says:

    I will buy it for Shirtless Adam Driver. That is all.

  7. MarBear says:

    I wish the industry would stop trying to make her happen. Also is it me or does she look a lot thinner in her shots than she does in real life.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      Me, too, and it’s not you. Photoshop city.

    • karmasabiatch! says:

      Seriously!! Judd Apatow, are you reading this?

      Lena Dunham is not ‘fetch’ and you’re not gonna make her happen.

      • Linda says:

        But but she is already happening

      • karmasabiatch! says:

        Linda- maybe, but for how long? HBO can’t continue to support the low number of viewers, even with Judd Apatow funding and supporting it.

      • lunchcoma says:

        karmasabiatch!, Girls is getting higher ratings than it ever has and has been confirmed to be returning for another season. Beyond that, HBO doesn’t make its decisions purely based on ratings – it looks at awards attention, DVD sales, and subscriber retention.

        I dislike the show personally, but it does exactly what they want it to – it attracts attention and controversy and reminds people they offer original programming that’s different from the norm.

  8. jazzy says:

    That black dress is what she should’ve worn to the globes. Sorry Zac Posen, but you were wrong for that.

  9. Kelly says:

    Of course it’s a head shot, with severely photoshopped pics inside….

  10. paola says:

    Can please someone explain to me what’s interesting about her? I really and honestly don’t get it.

    • Dani2 says:

      You’re not alone. She’s one of THE most overrated people in Hollywood right now.

    • MarBear says:

      Same here. I believe I’ve heard that her mother has some connections or she is some kind of famous artist. Whatever the reason I wish she would just go away. I’m all for female writers and comedians however she just irks me. Her shtick seems to be getting naked as often as possible on camera and it got kind of old after the first episode.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      Sylvia Plath. Philip Roth, Anne Sexton. How predictable. Yawn.

    • John Wayne Lives says:

      This.. I find her underwhelming and forgettably irritating.

  11. bowers says:

    More importantly, how does Kanye like it?

    • ncmagnolia says:

      Ha! Comment of the day.

    • stinky says:

      this! resistance to a Kim cover is no longer amusing to me. theres not one good reason why THIS cover should have happened. its the beginning of the end (if it wasnt long ago, i havent purchased Vogue for many years now so im outta the loop).

      • We Are All Made of Stars says:

        January and February are the off months for the fashion industry, sandwiched in between Xmas and the Spring Fashion extravaganza. They always put a celebrity on the cover in Jan/February in the hopes that it will attract a broad audience to buy the mag since fashion devotees are waiting for the March issue. Last year it was the equally ridiculous Taylor Swift, no? And before that it was the Wintour darling Blake Lively. It’s always some young dumb starlet.

      • We Are All Made of Stars says:

        And also they can rationalize that Lena is a happening starlet/artist, whereas Kim is trash with no real acting/singing/artistic talents.

    • Naomi says:

      I like your thinking. What DOES Kanye think about it? Clearly it cannot be art if he has not commented on it. Lol.

      You have given me my new set of standards and I thank you. From now on everything will start with what Kanye would think because nothing is worth doing if Kanye has not thought about it, claimed it and tweeted about it in ALL CAPS.

      Anything less is unthinkable.

  12. Ice Maiden says:

    Am I the only one who wishes ‘Vogue’ and other fashion mags would go back to putting models on their covers? Let celeb magazines be celeb magazines, and high fashion magazines be high fashion magazines.

    • Dena says:

      No, you’re not the only one.

      I find the majority of celebrity puff pieces boring and since it seems like mags are now required to do an interview with a cover for celebs I’m tired of reading the same old/same old every time. Put a model on the cover and actual content inside, please!

      • Ice Maiden says:

        Yes – models are models for a reason. Look at the classic Vogue covers featuring Linda Evangelista or Helena Christensen, and compare them with today’s Vogue, where not even Annie Liebowitz can make Lena look beautiful, or even interesting. I’m not a big fashionista by any means, but I love high fashion photography. I suppose Vogue, like all print media, is struggling, so they feel the need to ‘bait’ readers with celeb stories. But if that makes them barely distinguishable from any number of celeb/entertainment mags out there, what’s the point?

    • Dana says:

      I spent most of my allowance in the 80’s on fashion magazines. The models and photography were really breathtaking. I completely miss that. Not only models on the covers of the magazines, but real, true supermodels; none of this VS supermodel crap.

      • Ice Maiden says:

        Yup. Kate Upton on the cover of Vogue? Sports Illustrated, yes, Maxim, yes. But why is a glorified bikini model anywhere near a Vogue cover? It’s all part of the fawning on celebs which Vogue seems to feel it needs to do to keep sales up.

    • Frenzy says:

      I miss those days! I still have some of those covers with the real supermodels…. Linda , Christy, Cindy, Claudia , Naomi , Nadia, Alek! Now even Bar Rafaeli or Behati Prinsloo is a supermodel!

      • LeLe25 says:

        I’m in the minority but I’m actually glad the supermodel industry has been pushed to the sidelines. I was never that impressed with the pics of yesteryear by these supermodels and frankly found the whole thing pointless. The fashion industry is super awful and behind the times culturally, dare I say. At least Lena is a writer, director, etc. She does something other than pose.

        As an aside, what’s the point of these expensive models for print work anyway? The images are so photoshopped that by the time they get to print the photographer might as well have used any plain jane off of the street, I mean, what’s the difference?

    • gg says:

      Imagine how ridiculously thin Vogue would be without all the adverts. 25 pages. lol. I won’t buy it for the simple reason I am not going to pay for spam and what amounts to junk mail.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      And high fashion seems to be missing from this cover.

  13. bluecatplate says:

    A triumph of mediocrity.

    Getting angry at Lena Dunham and “Girls” is like getting angry at vanilla pudding. It is just so aggressively average.

  14. Nev says:

    great cover…I love how different it is. kool.

  15. Leah says:

    Finally Adam Driver on Celebitchy!!! He is so hot!

  16. lylaooo says:

    i saw girls just because my other tv show are on a break !! and i dont like it. i dont care about Lena she feels shes the center of the universe or something! but i get really jealous of Patrick Wilson!! my good i like that man!

  17. Shopperetta says:

    Did they use the Paula Abdul “Promise of a New Day” filter on the pictures?

  18. Liv says:

    Omg, I loooooove Patrick Wilson! 😉

  19. Maureen says:

    How is Lena fighting for women to be respected, and is a crusader against “body-shaming”, when she allows her self to be put in a magazine that is guaranteed to photoshop her body because the editor finds it so disgusting?

    I believe this is called “hypocrisy”.

  20. littlestar says:

    She looks really nice on the cover, and yes, it’s sad that they aren’t showing her full torso like they do on every other Vogue cover. As for the photo shoot – they put her in clothes that flatter her and she looks good.

    I do think fame has gone to her head quite a bit. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with her once Girls fades away.

  21. olivia says:

    it’s official: apocalypse has begun

  22. Elisabeth says:

    Lena, stop trying to make frump happen

  23. RobN says:

    Puppy is cute. That’s all I got.

  24. Cro-girl says:

    I don’t look like her. What is she talking about?

    • Maureen says:

      Herself. That’s what she’s talking about. Herself, just like all these self-absorbed celebrities do. Almost none of them ever has something to offer in interviews that’s teachable or usable for me in my own life. It’s just a bunch of entitled pseudo-philosophical crap.

  25. zaza says:

    I miss when Vogue put models on their covers. Fashion transcends entertainment. I get that subscriber numbers and ad revenue are higher with entertainers on the cover, but Vogue lost its soul when stopped making the clothes its raison d’etre.

  26. Fue McCormick says:

    I find her pretty boring, actually, but the make-up artist should be applauded. The dog’s cute!

  27. Palermo says:

    It looks nothing like her, so it’s pointless. She must use the same photoshopper that Kim K does

  28. Seán says:

    I don’t understand why this woman gets so much backlash. She doesn’t seem to have said anything deeply offensive. The one thing that I can see people getting justifiably annoyed about is that she plays up the whole “twee” thing á la Zooey Deschanel.

    I watched Girls to see why it received all the backlash and I sort of understand why. The characters are self-absorbed and unlikeable but I think Dumham is very aware of that and I think she hits the nail on the head when it comes to portraying the lives of many 20 something year olds. I know many men and women of my generation who whine endlessly about their lives, not always taking into account how easy they have it compared to others. Trying to find a steady paid job, the right partner, your own identity and to live up to society’s expectations is something that creates a lot of anxiety especially when you’ve moved past the constructs of school/college and realise how tough it is out there. It often feels like your problems are the only ones in the world although perspective and/or wisdom will show that your problems are so tiny within the grand scheme of things. I find Girls very relatable and I’m a 22 year old male from a working class family. I do agree that it’s not the earth shattering show the media would have you believe but it’s not without merit or talent behind it (the level of talent is entirely subjective). It’s not a lazily written sitcom like, say, Two and a Half Men.

    The other complaint I see levelled against Girls is that these women got their jobs through nepotism. That always strikes me as quite bitter. These girls grew up in well connected wealthy homes but that’s not their fault and why would they go out their and start at very bottom when they have opportunities available to them from the get-go. Qualifications and cover letters will only get you so far in the world and networking and having people who know your character is the best way of getting a job. I graduated college in May. I worked at a door to door sales commision only job for a month before realising that it put me more at a disadvantage than an advantage. I’ve handed around CVs to retail and services jobs for part time work while I look for a job related to my degree and received no contact back from them. I reached the final two in the interview stage for two different jobs. When I asked them if I did anything wrong, I was told that I was great and would be employable in other circumstances but I was passed up for more experienced candidates. The only job I did get was one where I knew the company head (she was from my hometown) and even then it was a 3 month unpaid internship where they couldn’t afford to keep me on as a paid employee. People tend to romanticise people who struggle for years but ultimately they grasp opportunities that come to them and they’ve spent many years struggling while people like the Girls cast get the opportunity to show their potential earlier. I would love to be more connected and have that connection take a chance with me and let them show that I’m eager to work and want to learn which would turn let me also focus on getting my life in order instead of existing in the current limbo state I’m in with limited income, relying on my parents and relatives to put a roof over my head, drifting from job interview to job interview and not having a huge amount of social time due to low funds and travelling. I won’t look back at age 22 and say “At that age, my struggles were a worthwhile experience”, I’ll think “Imagine if I we more connected, I could have worked and had to time to develop strongly as a person”.

    Long and short of it; None of these women are using their connentions for simply tabloid fame, they’re trying to do something that is creative and worthwhile and using the advantageous connections to do something worthwhile earlier rather than struggling for someone to give them a chance. All power to them!

    (Apologies about the speech, veering slightly off topic and the first world venting).

    • jess says:

      +1

      Also all 4 of the stars of the show come from families with creative people/entertainment backgrounds, why is it so wrong that they would all pursue a job in that field?

      Lena/Girls get so much backlash lately, and I really don’t get it either. I guess people think it must be easy to write, direct and produce a show on HBO? I am insanely inspired by her work ethic and drive.

      Also I’m a photographer and would love to shoot her. Though I primarily work with models, I love faces/personalities that are unique and expressive, and hers is. I would love to shoot something really raw with her, this shoot is so produced and retouched (not saying it’s bad, it’s not).

    • Skit says:

      Agreed. A lot of people don’t realize that most of the actors and creatives you see in the entertainment industry got where they are via nepotism and connections.

    • Gena says:

      Yes!

  29. Jen says:

    Why is that nasty Adam Driver invading her shoot?

  30. Smonty says:

    OK I know there is some air brushing, but for the love of God, why didn’t she wear that awesome black dress to the Golden Globes!

  31. Vivian says:

    As someone who is a fan of the show, let me just say why its popular. It speaks to the spoiled, early to mid twenties female who is trying to navigate through life through a naive, spoiled, entitled lense. It speaks to a generation of girls who never really grew up and had to hussle in work and love. In observing them, the target audience hopefully clues into their own immaturity. There was a lot of growing up between Season 1 and 2. Whether or not the characters continue to evolve or instead devolves is yet to be seen. Im guessing a lot of you need to be 24 to understand the show. It isnt great, she isnt great, its just a show that is more reflective of my generation

    • samantha says:

      Interesting, I’m 26 and can’t relate to her show at all. I don’t have one single friend that likes Girls. We talked about it recently at dinner and not one of us can understand what the show is supose to mean. I don’t care what weight Lena is, it’s her private business, but I can’t stand her ill fitting and frumpy outfits. There is no excuse in my book, Melisa McCarthy is a much bigger lady, very funny and talented and I’ve never seen her look bad.

      • Vivian says:

        What was like for you growing up and what are your circumstances now? A lot of my friends at 24 come from upper middle class families who are in the unique situation of being able to spend their parents money, live at home until whenever… all while working level entry jobs, not having to use that money to pay real bills. None of us have ever been exposed to real life in terms of work and love. I think theres a term for this specific generational entitlement: JAP (Jewish American Princess).

  32. Hannah says:

    Has anyone read the Vogue article featuring Lena as an 11-year-old? Goodness gracious!

  33. db says:

    Everything Kaiser said. I really enjoy the show, think Lena’s really talented — more than Nora Ephron to whom she’s also been compared. Basically, I like Lena, but cannot stand the, shall we say, Franco-zation of her by culture vultures.

  34. lucy2 says:

    The photos aren’t bad, and I’m just kind of glazed over her talking points, but HAVE to comment on the ass-kissing Vogue write up. I’ll preface it by saying I dislike the show, but respect her for writing and directing it herself. But:
    Do not compare her to Dylan. Just…don’t.
    She is not the master of the comedy genre. Comedy is far too subjective and varied to claim any one person is such a thing.
    I don’t see ANY influence from Girls on the network shows. TV is a business, networks are going to emulate what is financially successful. In recent years that’s been Chuck Lorre sitcoms (shudder) and Modern Family – I’d call this more the influence, since most of the new comedies this year were family-based.
    Actors aren’t chasing small screen roles solely because of Girls, but because that’s where a lot of the really great writing and characters have gone, and it’s not 2nd rate to movies anymore – but that change has been happening for far longer than Girls has existed. Usually the Sopranos is were people start talking about that shift.
    To me, Girls was something different, which is good, that along with Lena herself, got terribly overhyped, which is bad. Reaction to the 2nd season was very mixed, from what I remember seeing. Vogue needs to stop pretending it is some game changing, revolutionary work of art.

  35. bailie says:

    She is so annoying, I can’t help it. I really tried to watch Girls, but the show is so terrible, I just can’t.
    If she is a genius than this world is in bigger trouble than I think it is. I don’t find her attractive at all. I’m also 27 and it’s way too young to let yourself go. They must have photoshopped 20 lbs. off of her. Iif she is so happy with her weight why does she pose for a magazine that is shaving pounds off of her body? Makes no sense. At least, if she would dress in more flattering clothing, that yellow dress at the Globes was hideous, big bird indeed, ill fitting and such an ugly colour on her. She is not some unknown in showbusiness to dress at almost every event in such terrible gowns. Does she own a mirror, at least one??

    • marina says:

      Don’t you understand? She is an artist and doesn’t worry about her appearance. The beautiful people are not clever like her. Tongue firmly in cheek.

  36. shellybean says:

    I really like the cover. It’s super cute! I also really like Girls, I think it’s a good show. Although it would be way better without Marnie, as I hate that character.

    • Stormsmama says:

      I love the show. I love her.
      It’s odd and makes me feel like an old. But I find it refreshing and fun.

  37. InvaderTak says:

    Annie L’s Photoshop is awful. I mean, really awful. Thats all I got.

  38. fruitloops says:

    It’s lovely how Kaiser wanted to be nice by refering to Lena Dunham as an average-sized woman, but she really is not that. 😀
    I don’t think it’s ok to make fun of people for their looks, but let’s call a spade a spade, and not call Lena average-sized (even if she was downsized by the magic of photoshop to an average).

    • UnAttributableSpoon says:

      The average dress size of American women is size 14. Dunham IS average size. Actually, I’d say she was most likely a size 12. Sure, she’d look thinner if she dressed better and fixed her horrible posture, but she’s not huge.

      • fruitloops says:

        But I watch Girls since season 1, she is very often naked in it and she is definitely overweight (not huge, agreed, but you don’t have to be either thin or obese, there is a whole area inbetween that).
        It’s OK if her size is average in US, then I suppose she is average sized. I am from Europe so I guess I think in differerent sizes regarding that matter, but if you say that that is an average for American women then I agree with your point. 🙂

      • pantheon says:

        I don’t know what size Lena is, but she is very frumpy looking in my opinion. If she wants to be chubby – that’s her business, but I think that within a few years she will be getting a cover of one of the magazines for losing weight. Just like Jennifer Love Hewitt and some others. Such is showbusiness, very phony…

      • samantha says:

        I’m from Europe too and in my country she is considered heavy not average or curvy. Especially for a young women not even 50 yet and not given birth to two or three kids.
        That’s how it goes, every place is different and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
        To me she is unattractive, not just beacuse of her weight, but it’s the frumpy look she sports most of the time that is also a turn off.

  39. sardinia says:

    For the life of me I don’t understand the appeal of Girls, especially Lena.
    I see no talent in her. Also, I’m sorry, but she is just such an unattractive young woman with a terrible sense of style.

  40. londonride says:

    Frumpy, so very frumpy Lena.

  41. marina says:

    I’m getting so tired of the fact that anyone that criticizes her is anti-woman or fat-shaming. I’m sorry but I like my comediennes to be funny. Tina Fey invented the self-depricating career woman trying to have it all. Girls just isn’t funny. I wanted to like it but it was painful to watch. She is constantly trolling for people to make fun of her appearance so she goes out of her way to look dorky and unstylish. I stand by my statement that in less than five years she will be on the cover of People talking about her weight loss and exercise secrets to stay relevant.

  42. Skye says:

    Rich in entitled ambition but poor in practical know-how… Well, they got one part right. Yeezus, Vogue, need some Chapstick after all that work?

    The only good part of this is that Kanye West is somewhere nursing his latest pinprick aneurysm over another woman who isn’t Kim on the cover of V.

  43. Denise says:

    I’m curious how well it sells. I have a feeling that about 2 people opened up their subscription and said ‘Ah!’ when they saw the cover. The rest felt cheated. The truth is, we don’t buy Vogue to see Lena Dunham.

  44. chlorophyll says:

    I love Tina Fey and Amy Pohler. They are not frumpy, but smart, pretty, sexy, so very funny and relevant. I don’t get Lena at all, I really dislike Girls, horrible show in my opinion.
    I don’t understand the constant nakedness by Lena, I just turned 27 last week and
    have many friends of the same and or similar age, but I know of none of them being naked as much so randomly. There is nothing wrong with being naked, but almost all the time. What is she trying to prove?? There is a lot of photoshop in these pics for sure.

    • Seán says:

      I don’t find Dunham particularly attractive but sex is a big part of her show and a large amount of the subject matter is about sexual relationships. I think one of the interesting things about Girls is that its filmed more true to life than your average sex movie/TV scene, all beautifully lit from flaterring angles with tender kissing. Real sex is often fumbling and a bit awkward and from certain angles, the naked body doesn’t always look that great! Women don’t usually pull sheets up past their boobs after sex while men lie their with the bedsheet up to their waist.

      As an adult, I’d much rather watch a softcore simulated sex scene with boobs, ass and occasional full frontal than a chaste heavily edited sex scene that exists everywhere in television barring HBO and occasionally Showtime (provided the actors are comfortable of course). And it’s not just because I’m a pervert 😛 but because it rings more true. Especially considering the high concentration of nasty, disturbing and often highly realistic violence in movies and TV. I was watching Breaking Bad commentary and the creator was talking about how they have to be very careful with how they shot a mostly clothed sex scene, making sure any thrusting was obscured and I’m thinking “AMC censors, is this not a show for adults? And thrusting is disturbing but head squishing, shooting, severe explosions and dissolving a body in chemicals is fine?”

      I think it’s great that HBO shows sex and that Dunham is an actress whose happy to show that heavy, unkempt, plain looking girls have sex too and some are comfortable enough being naked/topless in front of friends too.

    • Solace says:

      +1
      I agree…the best thing about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler is that they are self deprecating and come across as humble but maybe Dunham is representing a majority of 20 something generation,there are exceptions of course, which is self obsessed but not self aware.She is a mirror and that could be the reason for our reaction however,the premise that in NYC she finds gorgeous men to date sounds tooo far fetched…inspite of being the least good looking in all her friends,is she really trying to sell us the fact that such men fall for her and she has better dating luck than her friends?

  45. pantheon says:

    Girls is such a horrible and boring show. Lena is too frumpy to be on the pages of Vogue in my opinion. I don’t care that she is chubby, but she can’t dress for her body type at all. These pictures have some heavy photoshop, she is certainly not the first or the last one im a magazine when it comes to photoshop, but they took at least 20 lbs of her frame. I wish she would be less frumpy for a young woman she is way too frumpy. My mom is 56 and is much better looking.

  46. LaurieH says:

    The photos are quite nice, but oh dear – photoshop much? I mean, we JUST saw her at the Golden Globes 4 days ago looking like a big, lumpy banana in that unfortunate fitting Zac Posen dress (yellow is NOT your color, honey). I totally agree with Kaiser: I find her annoying, but it’s mostly all the hype about her that annoys me because it seems so gratuitous and exaggerated. Hollywood puts SO much emphasis on women being ultra-thin and beautiful that whenever an actress comes along who is normal-sized or heavy with average looks, they seem to over-compensate by gushing about their talent and genius – as if to explain away or make excuses for the fact that she’s not ultra-thin and beautiful. That’s not to say that Lena Dunham is not talented, but it is to say that if she looked like the proto-typical Hollywood starlet, they wouldn’t be gushing about her genius so much.

  47. kosmea says:

    I really don’t understand why some people think that being pretty for woman must mean that she can’t be smart and funny. Just look at Tina Fey and Amy Pohler. Both looked gorgeous and were hilarious at the Golden Globes.
    Why does Lena think she has to look like an unmade bed to be taken seriously, to be considered smart capable and a hardworking woman?
    She can be whatever weight she wishes to be, it’s her business, but she could dress much better for her body type, especially for a 27 year old young woman. Why is she almost always looking so terrible? Designer must really dislike her to lend her such ill fitting and ugly outfits that make her look bigger than she is.

  48. nyclove says:

    I am very lucky to be born and raised in New York city and in a very wealthy family. I will be turning 26 in 11 days and for the life of me, I really can’t relate or even understand that horribly vapid show – Girls. I’m almost done with med school, have lots of interest , I love to read, learn new languages and travel the world. I have many friends from school and my synagogue, we get together to watch shows at my place, but none of us can stand to watch Girls. I really don’t get Lena Dunham’s appeal,
    I don’t know one single person of my age that watches her show. She is so rumpled, frumpy and ill dressed, and her ugly tattoos. Smart girls don’t have to look like hell, do they???

  49. silly you says:

    ha ha ha ha ha ha!
    she looks like a foolio, so of course i’m all about it.

  50. Angelduster says:

    The black dress she is wearing in the bath picture, That is the dress she should have worn to the Golden Globes instead of that yellow mess.
    It is much more flattering for her.

  51. lisa2 says:

    I really like the cover.

    sometime well most of the time the pictures can be good or bad depending on the subject. I think that they don’t know how to portray her. She is not standard beautiful. She is unconventional.

    And while i don’t consider her a great beauty, I think there are a lot of celebrity women that get called beautiful and breathtaking and stunning and gorgeous and those objective don’t apply. Everyone in Hollywood is not beautiful. despite photoshop

  52. Rosen says:

    Oh lawdy. Why does Leibovitz ‘shop all her shoots until they have the subtlety and realism of a velvet painting?

  53. boltuprite says:

    Beer goggles.

  54. rudy says:

    I have never seen the show. Never really wanted to.

    Tiny Furniture was an extremely annoying movie.

  55. Aly says:

    These pictures have been photoshopped into oblivion. I know this because she actually looks semi attractive in them…

    • Tania says:

      I think both the photoshopper and the stylist for the shoot deserve a raise. And she should hire the stylist for her events. Because clearly the woman cannot dress herself.

  56. veronica says:

    I think she’s fantastic.
    I love watching her awkward dirty feet pudding mouth sex.

    Shes the only woman on tv whos being sexualised whilst looking like shit.
    Yes, ‘less conventionally attractive’ chicks are sexual beings too, (gasp) and deserve a sexuality. And a leading role. (gasp). I think a lot of young women are benefiting from these images being presented on tv.

    re photoshopping, she didnt have any say obviously- she’s an up and coming not a heavy weight (excuse pun). Sometimes you have to involve yourself in the machine that oppresses you or whatever, to make changes. I think she knows this and doing the best she can.

    I hope this lady and her show gets as much publicity as possible.

  57. Porsha says:

    Enjoyed reading the comments – I have avoided watching the show because she appeared annoying so now I have to give the show a go and finally decided if I find her annoying or could like the show – the show brings with it a debate – however when they have a 2hr televised Victoria Secret Show its just the norm to say its crap (which it is) with no debate which I agree as it is a waste of space. What I have found with Girls is the in depth discussions it brings so I will watch the show and see have far I get

  58. Whitney says:

    I think she looks actually really nice on the cover. I find the actual photospread uninteresting, although I can’t help but feel that black dress in the bathroom pic really works on her. Better than the yellow monstrosity she wore to the GG, for sure.

  59. Goddess says:

    No offense for the people who admire herl (I don’t exactly watch TV so I have no idea what her tv show is about), but she doesn’t do it for me. It’s not because of her figure. Something about herjust annoys me to the bone. Can’t exactly point out why. Peace. 🙂

  60. Ally8 says:

    For anyone looking to see the subject matter of Girls done sensitively, well and beautifully shot (and even featuring Adam Driver), I cannot recommend the movie “Frances Ha” warmly enough. So great! And totally the narrative Girls thinks it’s delivering. I even think Girls ripped of some of the plotlines. Watch it!