Lena Dunham was refreshingly honest about her appearance on the catwalk

(Image credit: 2020 Tim Whitby/BFC)

Lena Dunham made her surprise catwalk debut at London Fashion Week, starring in the 16ARLINGTON show.

The Girls actress modelled a gold dress with full skirt and leather-style bow top, paired with black tights and heels.

She was asked to walk the show by designers Marco Capaldo and Kikka Cavenati, after they met to create a custom orange sequin dress for her to wear to the premiere of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Now Lena has revealed that after the initial joy of being asked, she immediately worried about feeling insecure next to the other models. She took to her Instagram, writing, 'When my friends at @16arlington asked me to walk the runway, I basically yelled “YES WHEN!?” Who doesn’t want to be a supermodel!? I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day, just like Linda Evangelista (JK, will work for chips.).'

A photo posted by on

'It was only after my initial scream of joy that I realized this would hit on a lot of my insecurities- about my body, desire-ability and general coolness,' she added.

Luckily it turned out to be a positive experience. She revealed, 'Marco & Federica are such sensitive, funny and wise artists and they created a show that could make any woman feel beautiful and unusual and happy in her total uniqueness. I loved meeting girls from all over the world (wow, your job is a lot harder than it looks- I can barely move my legs after that strut, so hats off to models) and I’m so proud to call the designers my friends.'

The actress was overwhelmed by positive comments from her fans.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.