Lena Dunham posted this photo to her Instagram over the weekend and everybody was like, “OMG IS THIS REAL?” Yes, it’s real. Lena decided to make the absolutely awful style choice of A) doing a dated bowl cut with B) platinum blonde hair. Lena had just finished filming Season 4 of Girls this week, so she wanted a change. Thus, the blonde bowl cut. Lena posted the header photo with the message: “change is good.”
The reason I know this is real is because Lena IG’d some more photos and guess what? The same hair. Only I guess she realized that the cut sucks, because she was trying to fix it with some barrettes. Now that I’m really looking at the cut though… I don’t think this is much different than how she already had it. The biggest difference is the platinum blonde, but the cut is pretty much the same. Lena tagged the photo below: “2 sets of sister-friends, 23 years strong. Jersey got married in yellow <3.”
I’m always sort of weirded out by Lena’s style choices. Some people say that Lena is actively trolling people, that she wants to bait people into saying bad stuff about her style so that she can play the victim and garner more “girl-power!” support. While it’s her right to style herself however she wants, at this point… I just think she has awful taste and no idea what is flattering for her natural assets. The blonde washes her out, the haircut is ridiculously unflattering and I would really like to take her shopping and show her what she should wear to suit her figure. Sigh…
Photos courtesy of WENN, Lena’s Instagram.
I always feel like she’s actively looking for ways to make herself look worse. Whatever, it’s her life, if it makes her happy, then who cares?
I agree but damn I really can’t stand this girl. She just always looks like she doesn’t care to me.
ITA. I truly cannot stand this girl. But, hey…at least now her hair and her teeth are the same color.
Andy Warhol wants his wig back!
I can’t stand her either.
It’s got to be deliberate (i.e. the bad fashion, hair choices) – sort of an anti-pretty thing, raging against the barbie dolls and size zero girls of the world. Or else she just has terrible taste.
Dani2 I was going to say the same thing! She WANTS to look awful. It’s like a dare.
she begs people to say she looks bad then runs with it, im not playing
Totally agree. Awful hair for an awful person.
You can put a wig on a pig but it’s still a pig in a wig.
Dumb and Dumber called. It wants its haircut back.
Always remember you weren’t born to visually please others. Forget the phrase “what if they think it’s ugly”. If you think it’s lovely, it is lovely. You wanna wear it, wear it!
I don’t know if that is it….I get the feeling that she knows that even if she would get the hottest hair cut and tons of extensions, she STILL wouldn’t be able to be the bombshell. IMO, she seems like she tries to explore style in an untraditional way. It doesn’t necessarily mean that she is trying to look bad just because she isn’t bending over backward to look hot. I think she tries to amuse herself going off the traditional route.
Just Like Leo.
Lena’s hair is nasty and the girl in yellow looks sick.
Her frame reminded me of that Gap model in the plaid dress recently. I bet the girl here is really healthy, but she looks like she’s without any meat.
Two words
Reservoir Tip
Haha Ewwww!
Nailed it!!!!
I think this might be an improvement? Her hair was horrible before. Don’t love the bowl cut, but it looks cute where its pulled back. I think the blonde accentuates her eyes.
My thoughts as well.
I agree. I don’t think it looks more horrible than before.
I think the cut is hideous, but for some reason, she looks prettier in that picture than I’ve ever send her look. I didn’t recognize her.
OMG I thought it was a wig, but I guess not! The style in the second photo is much better but the color is not right for her.
This reminds me of an episode of the TV series “Murphy Brown” where Candace Bergen wore a short wig just see how people would react to her “style” change. Another character told her that her “new” hair style had been features as a Glamour magazine “Don’t”. Same thing here. The bowl cut is hard to rock for anyone.
I remember that one!
They just did a similar thing on VEEP too, where she got a terrible short haircut.
Agree as to hair color as her overall coloring is wrong for platinum blonde. I should know — I went platinum blond after Madonna’s “Truth or Dare” came out. I have olive skin and green eyes — it looked awful and lasted about a month before I dumped a bottle of brown dye on my head. I suspect Lena’s color won’t last either.
Where to begin….?
She kinda looks like Sia’s younger sister in that top pic.
Not a fan of the platinum on her. Something nice-she looks good in the last photo.
her colorist did an excellent job but such an unflattering color for her.
Does platinum hair look good on *anyone*?
The lovely Brit duo of Harry Lloyd and Emilia Clarke seem to pull it off. 😉
You got me there! For people who are both naturally dark-haired they looked/look amazing. 🙂
gwen stefani 😉
Looks awful.
chloe sevigny , clair danes
Legolas.
haha, yeah
Ugh. Actively trolling sounds right. Though she is very smart and well spoken I think she seeks out a chance to defend herself. Otherwise there’s no press and no attention.
She’s pure shock value at this point. The novelty has worn off.
And she’s a cute girl. Those judgy, frowny, sullen faces she makes do her no favors.
“Those judgy, frowny, sullen faces she makes do her no favors.”
I know! She has a really endearing, childlike smile that I find disarming. I wish she’d smile once in a while.
But yeah, her style is TERRIBLE.
I think you’re right on here…that certainly does seem to be her “formula”
She probably feels like it’s impossible for her to look “good” in the generally accepted entertainment industry view, and thus goes for the “weird” and intentionally unflattering. Like, “Yeah, bitch, I look like this ON PURPOSE! Smoke on that.” It’s a shame really, I always actively hate her clothes and think she looks dumpy in them.
Never seen her show so I won’t comment but what I’ve read of her interviews came across as rather pretentious and defensive.
Wren
But she did look good on purpose for a photoshoot. She lost some weight, put on great makeup, hair done, and had some black and white city street shots. I forget the mag. She can look good and she barely has to try.
Everything else is the Hipster MO. And I am no fan of that.
I really like that she has this I don’t give a crap style and if she were say, a skinny model, she’d be applauded for her eclectic non comforming style, so maybe she just wants to live that way, not restraining from what she finds pretty just because we’re used to equating beauty and style with magazine standards. She’s young and wants to experiment like any other young celeb, but unlike so many IT girls and wannabes, she’s actually producing something AND doing the ‘stage’ work, so people should cut her some slack. I enjoy the show mostly for the unshameful depictions of certain situations and characters and that’s what I think she wants to stay true to, her let’s say, ‘artistic’ expression.
i agree with you.
it looks like she’s lost 20 or 30 pounds this year. i like how she did it quietly, no paid weight loss ads or talking about it in the press. the hair is fine. whatever.
so many female stars her age are so much worse about image and cave into sexism (or exploit it)… so i give lena a big pass.
Or it’s just a “faux” expression of artistic angst like “See, I don’t care about icky fashion because I’m so deep and intellectual. And I proved it by getting a terrible hair cut”. Hard to tell really. You may be right.
except noone in their right mind would actively pursue unflattering just to prove they’re intellectual, it does not even make sense especially since she’s already got a platform to display her inner world. She could’ve easily turned her appearences in her favor by associating with some weight loss products or lifestyle, reshape herself, like jennifer hudson or jessica simpson, start getting right clothes and makeup and be a writer/director/actress on top of that, but that would mean playing the hollywood game and eventually succumbing to that shallow world thus losing the proximity to the one she wants to portray in her work (even though she comes from ‘privileged’ background as I understand). So if anything, looking ‘inappropriate’ is a metod of self-preservation in the long run. I think it’s very difficult to keep the balance once you’re in the spotlight and the creative types struggle with it the most, especially young women.
well put, basasscompass. i think sometimes we forget how young she is, and how difficult it must be to navigate fame as a feminist attempting to make a dent in hollywood.
@break
it’s funny how in order to be recognized in HW you have to be either beautiful (then everything goes) or smart/talented AND pretty (Tina Fey for instance, who I adore btw) and if your looks don’t conform then you’ve gotta be well, brilliant or you’re out . There’s just no room for ‘average’, it’s almost condemned and yet all they do is keep portraying the average. If this makes any sense..
How very Children of the Corn…
I don’t understand why this woman TRIES to make herself unattractive. What is the point??
Seems like that’s her schtick. I’m not a fan, but I don’t see why it’s something to criticize her about if she’s happy with it.
Does she look happy? Hard for me to tell, I guess, but she always looks unhappy to me.
In the first shot she looks like she’d be right at home in an Austin Powers movie. But her eyes look enormous, which might be helped by the fact her mouth is closed, which is a plus.
She’s much more attractive when she smiles like in the wedding photo, she should try it more often.
This colo[u]r makes her look far too washed out. In the last photo with her natural shade she looks stunning in comparison.
I just recalled who she reminds me of – do you remember Uncle Fester in the second Adams family film? When he gets the terrible makeover from Joan Cusack? She makes him wear a horrid wig that looks just like that!
I think it looks cute
JB :
“I think it looks cute”. Yes, on a six year old Swedish child.
Lena Dunham always looks bad. Her haircut is awful. Why would she get a bowl haircut on her round face. Lena works in Hollywood around topnotch fashion designers and hairstylist. I don’t know why she continues to do this to herself. She should consult Amber Riley who is also very curvy for advice. Amber Riley always looks good. The platinum blonde hair is going to highlight her yellow teeth even more.
I think she has a really pretty face and that brown pixie she used to have looked great on her.
I really like Lena, she seems smart, she’s talented and it’s nice to see someone different on the screen.
It reminds me of Boris Becker’s haircut some 30 years ago.
She wants to seem like she doesn’t care, and tries so hard to not care about not caring, that in the end it’s totally obvious she cares. Probably more than most celebrities care. Oh! The Irony!
Oh, dear. I cannot like this look at all. She makes the worst fasion/beauty decisions-but that’s her right, I guess. I dunno…pulled back it’s not so horrible, but the original pic was way too Dumb And Dumber for me. Can’t decide which is worse-the haircut or “Girls”. Wait-def Girls.
I’m not saying it was demons, but it was demons that made her choose this cut & color.
Scream laughed.
I find her insufferable.
This is just the kind of ‘do you can get talked into by the right stylist – usually bc they’ve always wanted to try it on someone (whether is looks good on you or not).
She has this smug vibe along with being totally overrated. Her 15 minutes are ticking.
Nothing attractive about this look, at least in these photos.
She looks Norwegian or Swedish now. I actually think she looks better now, but I don’t like her because of her *personality* not looks (I’m deep like that)
I’ll take this over cookie-cutter starlets with extensions and fake tans ANY DAY.
I’ll pass on both, please don’t make me fake choose between fake people.
She seems to be fishing for compliments and/or negativity with everything. She’s just the “intellectual instagramer ” version of Facebook attention seekers. she cares what people say, good or bad and she goes after the attention. She might have some things to say that aren’t as vapid as most celebs, but she’s nit above playing the game.
I agree. I do think she thrives on the negativity. That’s probably why she always wears those unflattering dresses to award shows.
She looks really pretty in the last photo
I remember seeing her on Conan once when Girls first aired and thinking she looked so amazing styled like that. Her dress was a disaster, but her hair and makeup were so on point that it made up for the rest. I don’t really understand why ‘yes a bowl cut!’ was her first option but meh it’s her choice.. even though it’s an unflattering one.
It doesn’t look as bad in the photo with her friends (and the bang are pinned back). I still dont think the blonde suits her as well as brown does, but I think what makes it truly horrible is the bangs.
The Little Lord Fontleroy cut never looked good on anybody – including Little Lord Fontleroy. That said, I know I’m going to get raked over the coals for not being sensitive or “accepting all shapes, sizes, and looks as beautiful in their own way” but I’m going to say it: This girl is ugly. Sorry, but it’s true. Go ahead and sock it to me.
It’s “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” that’s all I’ve got.
WTF. This looks awful, but I kind applaud her anti-pretty thing. It seems almost intentional.
I had a similar haircut when I was 18 – except I was trying for Meg Ryan and ended up with the above. And I wasn’t hipster enough to be actively trying for the anti-pretty thing. I was unintentionally anti-pretty.
Low budget Lady Gaga.
I don’t care who you are. Nobody looks good in the “Draco Malfoy.” Not even Draco himself.
I find everything about her to be ugly including this new look.
I saw her on Graham Norton sometime back and her manner was jarring, obnoxious , pretentious , generally annoying.
She and her show are so over.
I don’t really know her. However, this is a major improvement.