Lena Dunham: It's hard standing with supermodels

[summer]

www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/lena-dunham-no-woman-should-have-to-stand-next-to-supermodels-2015167


Telling it like it is! Lena Dunham recently took the stage alongside such stunners as supermodels Gigi Hadid and Lily Aldridge and actress Hailee Steinfeld at a Taylor Swift concert, and she revealed in a new interview that the moment was not as easy as it looked.


The Girls star, 29, talked about her night at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium for Swift's 1989 World Tour in a chat with filmmaker Judd Apatow in New York City on Monday, July 13. Dunham, who also appeared in the singer's star-studded "Bad Blood" music video, is among many Swift pals to join her onstage.


"I was so thrilled to support my friend and so displeased to learn about the truth of my own height," Dunham said candidly. "I've been feeling pretty tall and feeling pretty sturdy, and it was amazing to be, like, 'Oh, I'm not tall, I'm chubby.' It's different."




"On most days, I feel really great and fine about my body, but I don't think standing next to, like, three supermodels or so is anything even the most confident woman needs to do," the Emmy-nominated actress continued. "When I socialize with those women, which I've done a little bit because they're good friends of Taylor's, who is a good friend of mine, I don't feel so strange. But the minute I caught sight of myself in the Jumbotron, I knew something was very wrong."


Wearing a black long-sleeved T-shirt and black pants and with minimal makeup as her "Bad Blood" character of Lucky Fiori, Dunham stood in stark contrast to the three other scantily clad guest stars. Steinfeld, Aldridge, and Hadid all showed off their legs in short, skintight numbers, with the two supermodels also baring their midriffs in crop tops.

Apatow, 47, acknowledged this contrast and the humor it provided to the photos from the event -- a sentiment that Dunham appreciated.







"I like that you just admitted that it was funny, because I got all these texts from friends saying like, 'I just want you to know you're beautiful,' and I was like, 'I didn't ask for that,'" she told the Knocked Up director. "You were just like, 'That was the f--king funniest thing I've ever seen.' And my boyfriend [Jack Antonoff] made it his screensaver, because he thinks it's so funny to just look at the height difference and look at all the people in makeup, and then me. And that's the reaction that's like, 'Get the f--k out!'"


Dunham also joked about the show via Instagram this week, sharing a photo of herself with Aldridge, Swift, and Hadid. "But seriously, how did that drug addicted secretary get up there?" she joked of herself. "Or is she a runaway cellist? Oh I know it's a 7th grade boy who is into tech theater."

[ttt]

Well, she's not doing herself any favors with those pants.

ETA and anybody would be short in flats next to someone wearing 8" platform heels. 

[pixy0stix]

whut?

[summer]

Jul 17, 2015 16:11:14 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

whut?

Dude, you never know what sticks on this board.  A post like this could fade away or go 12 pages. Who knows! LOL

[cattledogkisses]

Jul 17, 2015 16:09:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

Well, she's not doing herself any favors with those pants.

ETA and anybody would be short in flats next to someone wearing 8" platform heels. 

I don't know how tall Lena is, but the rest of those women are almost 6 feet tall. I think Taylor is 5'11 (don't ask me why I know this).

[litebright]

Well, I admire her humor.

I feel pretty good about myself on a daily basis, but I am equally sure that sharing the stage with a handful of decked-out supermodels, with my normal-woman body, would make me feel pretty self-conscious.

I dunno. It's sort of interesting in that Lena has kind of made that "I'm not trying to be like The Pretty Girls" her thing and yet she's acknowledging that sometimes it's uncomfortable. It doesn't mean she's immune to feeling the pressure of comparison from time to time even if she actively takes the "I'm not trying to live up to your beauty standards" position.

I imagine it would be really annoying to constantly feel like you have to answer "how you feel" about how you look, or defend why you don't look like every other woman in Hollywood.

[ttt]

Jul 17, 2015 16:20:37 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

Jul 17, 2015 16:09:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

Well, she's not doing herself any favors with those pants.

ETA and anybody would be short in flats next to someone wearing 8" platform heels. 

I don't know how tall Lena is, but the rest of those women are almost 6 feet tall. I think Taylor is 5'11 (don't ask me why I know this).

Yes but they're also wearing gigantic shoes! 

[ttt]

At any rate, I remember one time when I lived in NY, I met up with a couple of girlfriends for coffee in Manhattan. We were looking stylish and feeling pretty good, and then at the table next to us, a trio of what literally had to have been models sits down. Three women, all close to 6 feet tall, size 0, all gorgeous. We exchanged glances and were like...oh. Whomp whomp. It was like a scene out of a movie LOL.

[sugarglider]

Jul 17, 2015 17:06:44 GMT -5 ttt said:

At any rate, I remember one time when I lived in NY, I met up with a couple of girlfriends for coffee in Manhattan. We were looking stylish and feeling pretty good, and then at the table next to us, a trio of what literally had to have been models sits down. Three women, all close to 6 feet tall, size 0, all gorgeous. We exchanged glances and were like...oh. Whomp whomp. It was like a scene out of a movie LOL.

I'm a pretty confident person and have a relatively decent figure.  But one time (when I lived in NY), the dance studio where I had a class was the location for a model casting call immediately after.  As I changed into my street shoes, I never felt so short and curvy.  Model figures are unreal.

[Deleted]

I remember going out to a club with my good friend and her 3 good friends. They are all 5ft10 with long blonde hair. Then me, the 5ft3 friend. It was great being the sidekick all night while guys tried to talk to them and dance with them. (I felt so small and unloved)
The great part about them is that they were never after attention. They would just say to guys 'I'm out with my friends, thanks for the drink'
So at the end of the day, you have to just be in the moment. (Easy to say) and she should have thought, I'm on stage with Taylor swift. Cool!
Also she laughs at her boyfriend keeping the photo as a screensaver and laughing at the height disparity but that's not very cool of him.

[omgzombies]

Jul 18, 2015 7:30:36 GMT -5 @hannymaren said:

I remember going out to a club with my good friend and her 3 good friends. They are all 5ft10 with long blonde hair. Then me, the 5ft3 friend. It was great being the sidekick all night while guys tried to talk to them and dance with them. (I felt so small and unloved)
The great part about them is that they were never after attention. They would just say to guys 'I'm out with my friends, thanks for the drink'
So at the end of the day, you have to just be in the moment. (Easy to say) and she should have thought, I'm on stage with Taylor swift. Cool!
Also she laughs at her boyfriend keeping the photo as a screensaver and laughing at the height disparity but that's not very cool of him.

Not necessarily, the way she mentions it in the article, it sounds like she's fairly ok with the idea.  And to make this about me , my husband and I both know that if the other person is uncomfortable about something, the best way to handle it is to treat it as a huge joke.  The person then gets to confront it and deflect a little bit of the issue at the same time.  The more you can laugh at it, the more distant you become from the problem maybe?  Honestly I don't really know why it works, but it seems to for us.  Obviously this doesn't work for the huge things, but for something like this where she seems uncomfortable but not distraught, that would be perfect for us.  I think it just depends on the person.  

[foundmylazybum]

Was she dressing as her Bad Blood character and the others were too?

Why were they like Hot Ninjas and she was sweat pants Bad Blood lady? Lol.

I don't think it was that way in the video even.

[lilibet]

Jul 18, 2015 8:20:08 GMT -5 foundmylazybum said:

Was she dressing as her Bad Blood character and the others were too?

Why were they like Hot Ninjas and she was sweat pants Bad Blood lady? Lol.

I don't think it was that way in the video even.

Yeah the other three are in their video costumes and Lena's in something sort of resembling her's I think. Taylor even said something to the crowd about how they busted out their costumes just for them. I think Lena was sort of like the badass boss of the group? Idk.

[foundmylazybum]

Jul 18, 2015 11:05:12 GMT -5 lilibet said:

Jul 18, 2015 8:20:08 GMT -5 foundmylazybum said:

Was she dressing as her Bad Blood character and the others were too?

Why were they like Hot Ninjas and she was sweat pants Bad Blood lady? Lol.

I don't think it was that way in the video even.

Yeah the other three are in their video costumes and Lena's in something sort of resembling her's I think. Taylor even said something to the crowd about how they busted out their costumes just for them. I think Lena was sort of like the badass boss of the group? Idk.

So, I don't think Dunham's costume translated from video to stage very well and the other costumes did. She's in basically an all black costume with flats on which doesn't flatter a shortie like her. The others are already tall, and they are in high (the highest ever?) heels to make them look taller and their outfits have sparkle, texture or cutouts in their outfits to define them on stage.


I agree with her own commentary that she looks like the secretary. Or worse yet, a stage hand lol. I actually thought she was some sort of assistant they were thanking. She looks like an afterthought, and quite frankly I don't believe her when she says "Taylor and I are great friends!" It doesn't look like it

Also, Taylor also has a camel toe. I just needed to say that.

[foundmylazybum]

Jul 18, 2015 11:22:06 GMT -5 pennypenny said:

I don't have any issues with Lena, but the girl does not wear clothes that fit. Period. There is nothing wrong with her body. I mean obviously she doesn't look like a 6ft tall model, but she wears the most ill-fitting clothes ever. And that is the problem here.

Yeah also this. This is a big assumption but I sort of feel like Taylor's glamazons were like 'my outfit will look like THIS on stage," and Lena was like "oh, an all black left over outfit?! ok."  It seems like she doesn't put a lot of thought into her clothing choices and what exactly is right for HER body. I think it's kind of telling that she said she was surprised to see the pictures where she was small and they were tall.


And that's how you get a product like the above photo.

[saz]

I don't like Lena at all, but I feel for her with this. It is a bad feeling to be feeling great about yourself and then see photographic evidence that does not show you as you see yourself.

[Deleted]

Oh whatever, Lena doesn't have a body problem, she has a style problem. She's on stage with people who make it their priority to be on point with clothes and makeup, I promise that Lena could look quite glamourous if she didn't look like she just rolled out of bed.

[ttt]

Jul 18, 2015 11:54:54 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

Oh whatever, Lena doesn't have a body problem, she has a style problem. She's on stage with people who make it their priority to be on point with clothes and makeup, I promise that Lena could look quite glamourous if she didn't look like she just rolled out of bed.

I feel like she does this on purpose, intentionally wearing unflattering and ill-fitting clothes and then being all, ohh look at me I'm so ordinary and unglamorous! 

[lilibet]

Jul 18, 2015 12:00:35 GMT -5 ttt said:

Jul 18, 2015 11:54:54 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

Oh whatever, Lena doesn't have a body problem, she has a style problem. She's on stage with people who make it their priority to be on point with clothes and makeup, I promise that Lena could look quite glamourous if she didn't look like she just rolled out of bed.

I feel like she does this on purpose, intentionally wearing unflattering and ill-fitting clothes and then being all, ohh look at me I'm so ordinary and unglamorous! 

I sort of get that feeling too. She could look slamming and goodness knows she's got the money to get a great stylist if she wanted but I think it's part of her whole character of being normal/offbeat/kooky. 

But at the same time I do feel for her. I can't imagine standing next to those women like that, even the most confident person would probably have a moment of "well this sucks." There's a girl at work who is giant tall and wears giant heels and is always dressed really well and I always feel very short and homely next to her.

[emilyj]

Sometimes I think Lena Dunham has a hard time being Lena Dunham.

[foundmylazybum]

Jul 18, 2015 13:44:19 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Sometimes I think Lena Dunham has a hard time being Lena Dunham.

SOMETIMES!?