Lena Dunham is raising money to support Planned Parenthood–in a pretty unique way. She’s donating 169 items from her closet and donating the proceeds to the women’s organization.
How’s she doing this? She’s listing her clothes on the RealReal from today–and will receive a 70 percent commission from the sales, all of which will go straight to Planned Parenthood. While this may not seem like a big deal–a famous actress giving away her clothes–it is. Any bit of money donated to a woman’s health organization is a precious gift during this climate.
Dunham told The New York Times why she’s doing this:
Can we ask?
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“I realized I had been carrying around a lot of crap, both internally and externally. I always thought I was going to hoard all my clothes for my future daughter, and now I understand, especially being a woman with a reproductive illness, I may end up with an adopted son, I may end up with a daughter who doesn’t identify with her gender at birth. You can’t live for the future that does not yet exist. I have to take all this good fashion fortune I’ve had and spread it.”
If you end up buying one of the items, you will receive a personal letter from the actor and activist, who says she likes “being a woman who’s not typical Hollywood size putting beautiful designer things out into the world.” One of the items available is the Elizabeth Kennedy gown Dunham wore to the 2017 Met Gala, at $4,000.
This, of course, isn’t about whether or not you like Dunham, but want to support an important and necessary cause (plus, her clothes are cool). She feels the same way, saying:
“Probably some people will buy the clothes because they hate me and burn them. And I bless them, too. The money’s still going to Planned Parenthood.”
Joanna Valente is the former Staff Writer at Kveller. Joanna is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Xenos, and Marys of the Sea, and received an MFA at Sarah Lawrence College. You can follow @joannasaid on Twitter and @joannacvalente on Instagram.