A Handful and That’s Enough

Fresh off Lady Gaga’s recent undressing, Lily Allen went ahead and posed for the August issue of i-D, and what God gave her is, by any honest accounting, a handful. Small, unenhanced, entirely her own.

This isn’t new territory for Lily. She’s flashed the nation a few times—at parties, on beaches, in front of her hairdresser, apparently. There’s a pattern here that isn’t recklessness so much as a complete refusal to be embarrassed about her body in a culture that constantly tries to make women feel like they’ve come up short. She hasn’t had surgery. She hasn’t filled anything with silicone. She just shows up exactly as she is and dares you to have opinions about it.

I love her for it. I’ve always loved her for it. There’s something genuinely refreshing about a pop star who doesn’t curate her physical self into something aspirational. More shooting whenever she wants. She has my full blessing.