Glamour’s Feb Issue is Powered By Women to Empower Women

Cindi Leive, Editor-in-chief for Glamour recently noticed that while the magazine employed female writers almost exclusively, the visual content of the magazine—was more likely to be made by men so she decided that Glamour could “use a shake-up.”

“That shake-up begins with this issue, where, from first page to last, every photo we commissioned was created by women: photographers, stylists, hair, makeup, everything,” explained Leive, in February’s editorial note. “And Glamour plans to continue to increase our representation of women in creative-contributor roles meaningfully throughout 2017 and beyond; we’ll report back to you on how we’re doing.”

The issue titled “Powered by Women” covers everything from “The Body Revolution: Female Photographers on the Radical Honesty of Shooting Women As We Are” to artist Marilyn Minter on “Why Women Need to “Stop Apologizing” for Creating Their Vision.”

For the cover, Lena Dunham joins her fellow “Girls” cast members, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke, on the Emma Summerton-shot cover, which shows all four actresses wearing threads and platforms from Marc Jacobs’ spring 2017 collection.

The best part? The images of Dunham and her cast mates were not photoshopped for the issue.

Dunham took to Instagram to thank Glamour. The long post delved in to her journey to accepting her body.

Okay, here goes: throughout my teens I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I was fucking funny looking. Potbelly, rabbit teeth, knock knees- I could never seem to get it right and it haunted my every move. I posed as the sassy confident one, secretly horrified and hurt by careless comments and hostility. Let’s get something straight: I didn’t hate what I looked like- I hated the culture that was telling me to hate it. When my career started, some people celebrated my look but always through the lens of “isn’t she brave? Isn’t it such a bold move to show THAT body on TV?” Then there were the legions of trolls who made high school teasing look like a damned joke with the violent threats they heaped on, the sickening insults that made me ache for teen girls like me who might be reading my comments. Well, today this body is on the cover of a magazine that millions of women will read, without photoshop, my thigh on full imperfect display. Whether you agree with my politics, like my show or connect to what I do, it doesn’t matter- my body isn’t fair game. No one’s is, no matter their size, color, gender identity, and there’s a place for us all in popular culture to be recognized as beautiful. Haters are gonna have to get more intellectual and creative with their disses in 2017 because none of us are going to be scared into muumuus by faceless basement dwellers, or cruel blogs, or even our partners and friends. Thank you to the women in Hollywood (and on Instagram!) leading the way, inspiring and normalizing the female form in EVERY form, and thank you to @glamourmag for letting my cellulite do the damn thing on news stands everywhere today ❤️ Love you all.

A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Jan 3, 2017 at 9:00am PST

“Well, today this body is on the cover of a magazine that millions of women will read, without photoshop, my thigh on full imperfect display,” she wrote. “Whether you agree with my politics, like my show or connect to what I do, it doesn’t matter- my body isn’t fair game.”

“No one’s is, no matter their size, color, gender identity, and there’s a place for us all in popular culture to be recognized as beautiful,” she added, thanking all the women in Hollywood (and on Instagram!) leading the way, inspiring and normalizing the female form in EVERY form.”

Dunham also thanked Glamour for “letting my cellulite do the damn thing on news stands everywhere today.” The magazine also includes a feature article in honor of the show’s sixth and final season which premiers in February on HBO. The magazine also sat down with Girls executive producer Jenni Konner, who gives the cast the ultimate exit interview, digging into the cast’s overall job satisfaction, feelings about their pay, benefits, and other incentives, and favorite memories from the show.

Glamour’s February issue is on national newsstands January 10 and available now digitally at glamour.com/app.

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