Lena Dunham and the Spanx Liberation Movement

The actor-writer-director-controversy creator is back with a new project: a plus-size clothing line. The whole body positivity thing? She has thoughts.

In the 10 or so years since she first became famous, Lena Dunham has been many things. She has been a wunderkind, a writer-director-actor-producer of both feature films and television series, voice of her generation, David Remnick mentee, Golden Globe winner and representative of liberal white privilege. She has been a Vogue cover girl, newsletter maven and subject of social media shaming. Also head of her own book imprint at Random House, endometriosis and hysterectomy survivor, and oversharer. She has been so many things, in fact (seriously, has it been only 10 years?), that it is kind of extraordinary to realize that one thing she hasn’t been is that increasingly beloved side hustle of almost anyone in the public eye: a fashion designer. Of course, that may be because another thing she has been is an often unfairly mocked presence on the red carpet, subject of cavalier memes and style police cruelty.