Don’t do what Lena Dunham does.
The Girls actress, writer, and producer has been super vocal in the past about her absolute disdain for the annual Met Gala, so when she showed up on the red carpet yesterday, plenty of people were left scratching their heads.
Dunham’s outfit was pretty lacklustre (she wore a golden gown with a ruffled collar and a Stephen Webster necklace), but she did abide by the theme of the evening: Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.
No one was focused on her outfit though.
Instead, everyone was sitting back snickering at the absolute hypocrisy of Dunham to attend an event she once said “felt like a punishment”.
In 2016, Dunham famously penned an article for Lenny Letter (which has since been deleted) about how gruelling it was sitting through fashion’s night of nights.
While in conversation with Amy Schumer, Dunham said:
“You and I were literally sitting across from each other at the Met Ball, and it was like a crazy countdown to when we could escape. You were like, ‘We’re honoured to be here. We’re honoured to be here.’”
Now… Dunham hasn’t just attended the Met Gala once, or twice, she’s been six times!
Why bother going back again and again if you’re going to publicly slam the event?
Doesn’t Dunham have anything better to do than attend a function that requires hours of hair and makeup, only to then hate on the entire experience and moan about it later?
More importantly, who keeps inviting Dunham back? She clearly doesn’t want to be there.
It’s not like invites to the Met Gala aren’t highly coveted or that Vogue doesn’t agonise over seating charts a year in advance or anything…
who keeps inviting lena dunham to the met gala
— Laura (@TotalLaura) May 8, 2018
Dunham attended the event in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and then again this year.
In 2016, after chronicling her attempted escape from the event, Dunham also expressed (and later apologised for) her disdain at Michael B. Jordan for not being interested in her sexually.
Lewks with @JenniKonner, Jenna Lyons…and I guess @joejonas too. #MetGala pic.twitter.com/A1gSbThwbc
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) May 6, 2018
“The vibe was very much like, ‘Do I want to f–k it? Is it wearing a … yep, it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going to go back to my cell phone.’ It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie. I was like, ‘This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes.’”
Here’s a great idea Lena – if you’re lucky enough to get invited back next year, just do as Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie do, and politely decline the invite.
It’s really that simple.