The fifth birthday issue, which will be distributed nationwide on Tuesday and Wednesday and is also free to download on Apple, Amazon and Google Play Newsstands, is the culmination of three months of collaboration with Dunham, say the publishers.
“I love the magazine,” says Dunham of Stylist. “I love that it speaks to women in their lives as they currently exist; I love the women Stylist chooses to profile and I love the progressive feel of it. Editing Stylist has been an amazing opportunity; it’s been so fun. I’ve definitely had moments where I’m like, ‘This is my magazine? We have got to get this perfect! I’m not putting my magazine out with bulls**t in it!’ It’s been a joy.”
Taking a hands-on role for this special edition, Dunham presented Stylist with her dream list of features via Skype, after which she collaborated with the team via email and in person to produce and write the issue. This includes working with Stylist on the cover concept in which she was turned into a human cake, interviewing herself for the issue’s cover story as well as commissioning all of the features. She also commissioned Nigella Lawson to create an exclusive recipe, the Can’t Cook Sandwich.
In the run up to the special issue, Stylist will roll out exclusive content online and via social media. Exclusive videos will be uploaded to stylist.co.uk and Wednesday 8 October’s Emerald Street email is also written by Dunham. A dedicated hashtag – #LenaXStylist – has been created to share behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
On this special edition, Stylist Editor Lisa Smosarski commented: “We were thrilled when Lena agreed to guest edit our fifth birthday issue; she is the personification of Stylist, sharing our values and is a brilliant editor. This really is Lena’s vision – her ideas and her words.”
