Lena Dunham Pulls Name From Revolve Line

Lena Dunham surrounded herself with controversy, yet again, for her lack of ability to sense backlash before she acts. Let’s never forget that time she openly admitted to molesting her little sister IN HER OWN BOOK. Now, the Girls star is facing resentment on social media for her recently released sweatshirt line with LPA and Revolve.

Not only are these sweatshirts ridiculously over priced at $168, the messages written on them make me question Lena’s sanity. Said quotes include, “too boney to be boned”, “being fat is not beautiful, it’s an excuse”, “slut feminist nightmare”, and last but not least, “horrible result of modern feminism”.

Though it’s hard to believe, Dunham actually had a purpose when selecting these quotes. Her plan was to give support to any women who’ve been trolled on the internet, and the shirts are supposed to reflect those comments. However, taken out of context, which it most likely will be walking on the street, it is a terrible thing to put on your body. It’s also a terrible thing to wear in front of young girls you may, and probably will pass in the street.

The line was designed by Dunham, her friend Lara Pia Arrobio, Paloma Elsser, and three other women. They were planning to raise funds for an organization called “Girls Write Now”, which inspires young women to find their voices through writing and the arts.

However, Dunham decided to pull her name from the line and let everyone know on Instagram that this isn’t what she wanted to line to be. Only her criticisms didn’t come from the problematic text, it came from Revolve’s use of strictly thin, white models to market her product. Her vision featured models of every size, shape, and color, which is also why she feels the message didn’t get across in the correct way.

For months I’ve been working on a collaboration with my friend Pia’s company LPA through parent company @revolve – sweatshirts that highlight quotes from prominent women who have experienced internet trolling & abuse. This is a cause very close to my heart and the proceeds were meant to benefit charities that help young women by empowering them to express themselves through writing and art. Without consulting me or any of the women involved, @revolve presented the sweatshirts on thin white women, never thinking about the fact that difference and individuality is what gets you punished on the Internet, or that lack of diversity in representation is a huge part of the problem (in fact, the problem itself.) As a result, I cannot support this collaboration or lend my name to it in any way. This isn’t meant to shame Pia or the great work she’s done with LPA. I am deeply disappointed in @revolve’s handling of a sensitive topic and a collaboration rooted in reclaiming the words of internet trolls to celebrate the beauty in diversity and bodies and experiences that aren’t the industry norm. *** I’d like to especially extend my love and support to @palomija, whose quote was the first to be promoted and mangled. She’s a hero of mine. Like me, she gave her quote in good faith and shared her vulnerability in order to support arts education and to spread her message of empowerment, and she wasn’t consulted in the marketing. Not an ounce of negativity should be sent her way. *** My only goal on this planet is to empower women through art and dialogue. I’m grateful to every woman who shared a quote and so disappointed that our words were not honored. As a result, I will be making a donation to the charity of every woman’s choice who was wronged with me and I hope that @revolve will join me with a contribution of their own. *** P.S. This Rubens painting makes me happy because it’s about women joining in love, but he didn’t recognize diversity at all- he just loved curvy butts. Problematic fave.

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Sep 12, 2018 at 11:47am PDT

However, did the model choice matter? It was just the same horrible thing the fashion industry does on a daily basis, and has been doing for eons. I think the issue here is having out of context, extremely problematic quotes on sweatshirts that young girls will see and misinterpret. And, social media users aren’t letting Dunham forget that by expressing their grievances online.

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LPA and Revolve also put out statements in response to the backfire. LPA writing a post about how the whole mess was a lack of communication with Revolve. Revolve also put out a sorry statement on Instagram stating, “We messed up big. We are SO SORRY for hurting and offending you.”