Lena Dunham Has Always Been a Fashion Girl. Her 'Famesick' Wardrobe Proves It

“Classic suiting but fuck it up in a cool way.”

That was the only directive Lena Dunham gave stylist Talia Cassel for the press tour of her second memoir, Famesick. Cassel had styled the Girls creator only once before (for a New York Times photoshoot in March), but it was enough to receive a text 12 hours later: “I love your work and have a good feeling about the energy. I want you to do the tour."

Cassel, 27 and based in New York, took her new client’s request and “ran with it.” The stylist commissioned indie designers to make custom military jackets and twee trench dresses in bubble-gum pink. On The Drew Barrymore Show, Dunham wore black-and-blood-red Bermuda shorts and a matching twisted-silk top.

Though the crowning jewel of the Famesick book tour has, without question, been the slumber party-themed live shows, complete with a queen-size bed and floral pillows that travel with them on the road like groupies. Snuggled under the covers with guests like Andrew Rannells and Emily Ratajkowski, Dunham reads passages from her memoir in tailor-made skirt suits festooned with prize-ribbon rosettes. Look closely at Lena’s lapels, and you’ll see photos of her geriatric rescue dogs, ‘90s heartthrob Brad Renfro, and a Girls quote that overly ambitious types know well: “I have work, and then I have a dinner thing. And then I am busy, trying to become who I am.”

Only two months into working together, Cassel has subverted and effed up all types of suits. But as a longtime disciple of Dunham’s work—(“Girls raised me. I pre-ordered Famesick before I even started working with her.”)—the stylist still sees a larger task ahead of her. “It’s really important that I make Lena feel like the fashion girl she is, that I dress her in the way that fashion makes her feel. She’s the only client I've ever had who cares about fashion this much.”

Cassel, who was introduced to Dunham by her previous stylist, Michael Handler, reveals that the Golden Globe-winning actress is often up until 4 a.m. bidding on archival designer on eBay and has an “obsession with The RealReal.” (Every kitten heel and pointed-toe pump worn on the book tour she bought on the TRR herself.) In Famesick, she recounts being en route to surgery after accidentally setting herself on fire and making a pitstop in Heathrow airport’s duty-free Chanel store to buy Kelly green ballet flats.

Still, Cassel argues that the public perception of Dunham hasn’t quite caught up with that reality. “With Lena not being sample size, and everything she’s gone through with her health and in the media, society doesn’t see her as a fashion girl,” she says.

The public has given Dunham plenty of other epithets: She’s “a voice of a generation” to millennials; a laugh-out-loud funny older sister to Gen Z; privileged and a provocateur to Boomers and/or those who disagree with her left-leaning politics. Cassel’s job, as she sees it, is to add another to the mix—and make it indelible: “An absolutely fabulous fashionista.”

Tax-free Chanel flats aside, you will rarely find Dunham wearing a luxury fashion house. Not only because these bigwig brands rarely offer inclusive sizing, but also because supporting emerging talent is true to her character, Cassel says. “Lena’s always been the underdog—of course, she would want to help out a hardworking, passionate emerging designer.”

Lately, they’ve both been on a “big Eastern European kick,” including Nastya & Masha, the Moscow-based brand behind the triple-stacked polo and sheer skirt Dunham wore on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Also heavy in their rotation are Christian Cowan, Malene Specht, and Gwendoline English, a fresh 2025 Central Saint Martins grad. As is Amber Doyle, a New York-based bespoke tailor, who makes impeccable blazers and midi skirts, which Cassel calls “the best Lena has ever looked in a suit.”

Cassel is somewhat of a dark horse herself. Up until last year, she was working as a stylist assistant in Los Angeles, slowly building a small roster of celebrity clients (rapper Travis Scott and the lead singer of the band Fcukers, Shanny Wise). “As an emerging stylist myself, I know that I'm so hungry, so it’s been very special to align with designers in the same place as me,” she says. “The idea is that hopefully we grow together in this industry and support each other along the way. Aside from that, big designers have to come from somewhere.”

Though there has been one exception so far: Dunham wore custom Valentino to the 2026 Met Gala. The gown, made of asymmetrical red silk and embroidered with sequins and feathers, was an interpretation of the painting Judith Slaying Holofernes by Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi—specifically, the blood splatter. “We could have gone a more predictable route, but she did it the Lena way," says Cassel, who collaborated with Handler on styling Dunham for the ball. "We were like, ‘Let's let people use their brain and intercept things a little bit.'"

Part of the decision to partner with Valentino, Cassel explains, was to celebrate Dunham’s seven-year return to the Met Gala. (Also, when Alessandro Michele calls, you pick up the phone.) In her best-selling memoir, she details previous bumpy experiences. In 2017, she fainted in the museum bathroom and was later hospitalized. The following year, Dunham attended on temporary release for rehab in a gold Elizabeth Kennedy gown that, upon returning to the treatment center, and after it was searched for contraband, a fellow patient—a teenager, Gaylen—took it for a spin.

“Experiencing it with her on that Monday, seeing her so happy and confident to be back and in couture Valentino—it was genuinely the best day of my life,” Cassel says. “One thing about Lena is that she has the most gratitude in her heart and does not take any of these moments for granted.”

Going forward, though, they will be returning to their roots: supporting emerging designers and experimenting wherever they can. “Just wait for the next press tour is all I'm going to say,” Cassel adds. “It's going to get even freakier.”