Claire Danes for GQ UK Magazine

Posted on Jul 30, 2012 in Fashion

There’s something kind of hilarious about two gay men opining over what makes a woman sexy, but looking silly has never stopped us from expressing an opinion before, so why start now?

Here’s the thing:

Claire Danes covers the September 2012 issue of GQ UK photographed by Simon Emmett in a Ralph Lauren Black Label halter maxidress.

Is “sexy-sexy girl who can’t stop touching herself in public” really the best use of Claire Danes’ talent and persona? Isn’t she the more the intensely cerebral-sexy girl, if she’s shooting for sexy at all?

Don’t get us wrong; she doesn’t look bad in these pictures – although she looks a little hard in the second one. Those shoes and that dress are doing wonderful things for her. It all works on the surface, but we can’t help thinking she looks a little forced and uncomfortable.

Having said all that… we are seriously psyched for Season 2 of Homeland, which starts September 30th. If you haven’t caught Season One yet, find a way to do so. It’s T Lo-Recommended.

[Photo Credit: Simon Emmett for gq-magazine.co.uk]

Tags:

JasonKL

I don’t think GQ has all that many tricks in the trickbag so far as women go. It’s always some variation of sexy-sexy girl(s).
- http://essays.tumblr.com/ Nicholas
  
  That’s because Terry Richardson is their go-to perv for cover photos. Look up his name, and you’ll quickly see the common denominator.
  - SassieCassy
    
    I dont think he did this photshoot. If he did we would be looking at a blank wall and even flatter lighting.
    - http://essays.tumblr.com/ Nicholas
      
      It doesn’t look like his style, no. He usually uses a lot of lights, airbrushing, and dresses and poses the women like high school teenagers. Just look at the Glee covershoot—ungh.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZBFH32YG44LIIZYLSQPMBXMYCU Sarah
    
    If you look at the tiny print it says “photographed for British GQ by Simon Emmett.” Seems to take a lot of celebrity va-va-voom shots, but hopefully he didn’t try to molest her on set. Terry Richardson – yeesh.
MarissaLG

Hubba hubba. Very King Kong.
janetjb

I was so distracted by the words on the cover I hardly even noticed her. I think she is can be so much sexier than these two pictures.
- mshesterp
  
  Reading the cover blurbs, the whole magazine just makes me feel…ecchh. And if I were a man, I’d feel like I just couldn’t quite do enough in my life TO BE SUPER SUPER MANLY GOD FORBID I BECOME PUSSY/PURSE (?) WHIPPED. Calm down, GQ. And stop underlining important words. It’s going to be alright.
  - out for a walk
    
    Somehow I read the “fight like a MAN and then have unbeatable make-up sex” and pictured biker dudes brawling in a bar and then getting busy. Which, hilarious and kind of hot, but not what I think GQ was going for.
    - janetjb
      
      Hilarious, thanks for the laughs
    - HazellC
      
      Eh, it’s by Vicky Coren. There’s a decent chance you’re right!
http://twitter.com/MajorBedhead MajorBedhead

Those shoes are making MY feet hurt.

The whole thing is very cliched but it’s GQ, so it’s to be expected.
Vlasta Bubinka

She looks so vacuous in these pics, she might as well just be a computer generated image.
Lilithcat

“Trying too hard” is my immediate reaction.
Pants_are_a_must

GQ seems to know a lot less than you do about what makes a woman look sexy.
- bitchybitchybitchy
  
  Word GQ has a very narrow view of what sexy is.
Allyson Wells

Can’t wait for Homeland! I caught a few minutes of Your Highness on HBO this weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see Sergeant Brody as a sword-swinging Knight… talk about a hot ginger!
AudreysMom

Two things: 1) Clare Danes is many things, especially talented. However, sexy is not on ever on the list.
2) I’d LOVE to watch Homeland S1 (cable deprived that I am) but… it’s not on DVD, not on Netflix so what’s a woman to legally do?
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZBFH32YG44LIIZYLSQPMBXMYCU Sarah
  
  I think she’s sexy plenty. I agree with TLo that she is not best suited as a person for these shots, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t sexy, or can’t be, anyway. I would look like a damn idiot dressed like that, and I think that most people attracted to women would find her smokin’, so I can’t say she doesn’t look good. And, as mentioned above, it’s a men’s magazine, after all.
- mshesterp
  
  I kind of agree–I don’t think sex appeal, even smart-girl-nerd-chic sex appeal, is really Claire Danes’ thing in all the roles that I’ve seen her (smart, I get, just not sexy-and-smart). She just looks so intense and serious in most of her movies/tv shows. And yet, she’s kind of bringing it in photo two (one falls under the trying too hard category for me).
  
  Season 1 should be out on on DVD at the end of August, I think. Check it out on Amazon for the release date (and it will probably be available on itunes for download then).
  - AudreysMom
    
    I think it was my early introduction to Clare Danes as Beth in Little Women. And all the parts since then in which she’s either intense or weepy. I just can’t get sexy from her.
    
    Thanks on the series info. I keep waiting. This show has taken for-ever to get to DVD.
    - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZBFH32YG44LIIZYLSQPMBXMYCU Sarah
      
      Yeah, or My So Called Life, which is how I know her. I just think that she CAN look sexy, and sophisticated. She turned out pretty polished as a grown-up. Never seen Homeland, but after all the accolades I might give it a shot.
- MissAnnieRN
  
  Yeah, I managed to fit in 6 episodes on a showtime free weekend. But I can’t find it anywhere else. Streaming on Netflix is what I’m waiting for.
kimmeister

I prefer the 2nd shot.
Catiline

The cover has a “practicing my come-hither look in the bathroom mirror” vibe to it, and makes me laugh.

The second picture, though, is fantastic. Mainly on the strength of the hair and makeup, which make her look as soft and sultry as I’ve ever seen from her (may not be saying a lot).
SpcilK

She is not that gurl! Photos look forced,contrived, and hard.
Tatiana Luján

Both shots are tacky, but the clothes, the makeup and her hair look great. The best I’ve seen her in a long time.
CatherineRhodes

TLO, will you be blogging Homeland?
- MilaXX
  
  They did last season and they appear to still enjoy the show, so I would assume so.
  - CatherineRhodes
    
    No, I don’t believe they did… I read this blog daily and don’t remember, and it’s not in the “TV” tab above.
LesYeuxHiboux

She is a rather classy dame. I feel like her brand of sexy is more “Natalie Wood with one opera glove removed, dangling from her fingertips”.
Le_Sigh

This is all so very Lea Michele – and by the “ugh of course” look in her eyes I think she knows it.
YousmelllikeAnnaWintour

She looks beautiful, but the way she is posed in both pictures is so silly! Well, then again, it is GQ. Just look at some of the titles of the other articles, lol.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Julie-Chase/731391326 Julie Chase

I like the second picture, but the first makes me feel embarrassed.

And yes Homeland is AMAZING.
http://profiles.google.com/dorothymichael Dorothy & Michael n/a

Hmph. The first thought that came to me was “They had to find just the right dress to cover the burgeoning baby bump on Claire.” I think they could have done a better job of making her look sexy. This seems pretty far removed from “sexy”.
Vaniljekjeks

She was the most beautiful in Stardust. She has such an ethereal beauty that somewhat clashes with the styling of this shoot.
Judy_J

She looks uncomfortable in both photos, less so in the first one, and that’s the one I prefer.
Wendi126

An excellent film with my favorite Claire Danes performance- “Shopgirl” written by and starring Steve Martin. Love it. Love her in these pics but she doesn’t look like she even wants to be there.
MilaXX

This is about as sexy as a root canal. The first scene honesty looks like it was photoshopped from a pic of Claire sitting on the toilet looking over her shoulder for the toilet paper. The second shoot is a little better, but neither pose all that great for her. She looks good in the dress and shoes, it’s the poses that are ridiculous.
Violina23

Trying. Too. Hard.

(I do love her, though)
kingderella

the cover looks forced.
the second picture is pretty good, but i wouldnt have recognized her.
arent the shoes too big?
AnaRoW

She does look uncomfortable but I don’t think women can get on the cover of GQ without posing like that.
http://profile.yahoo.com/KM5F6YLMLXS3AIQ5H3BIIIVABA fabulous

I think she’s very talented but both she and her husband seem like a pair of uptight fuckwits.
Joyce VG

I CAN’T WAIT for the new season of Homeland! She looks very over the top sexy here.
http://profile.yahoo.com/QK3MTAHUVJCMI7DANY6WFCAIUM n a

she is gorgeous- but I still see her as a conflicted teenager with orange hair in My So-Called Life, so in that respect, that makes these photos REALLY awkward & wrong…
http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

The “sexy” persona doesn’t suit her. At least, not pure sexpot. She looks fine, but not really comfortable with herself.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OD35QQZNBPZJXWTCBY7N4EE7VY Sarah

Victoria Coren, I hope you’re not drawing on your relationship with David Mitchell for that article.
greyhoundgirl

Not sexy to this lesbian. Sort of anti-sexy because it’s so unreal.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1447060898 Lori Wade Miller

I read ‘cerebral-palsy girl’.
http://profiles.google.com/hillaryschuster Hillary Schuster

The whole look is very Blake Lively.
Matt Bailer

Any chance T-Lo might start blogging “Homeland”? Seems a perfect fit!
LuluBI

Why we love you TLO
aimee_parrott

Meh on the pictures, but OH LORDY am I excited for the return of Homeland. I’ve been in a little bit of quality TV withdrawal without Mad Men or Game of Thrones, and I’m ready for more Claire, Damien and Mandy.
formerlyAnon

I am a girl who likes guys, so it’s all between the ears evaluation here. And, I’m with TLo.

I think you’ve got to be a real cuddle-bunny type to look sexy in that kind of dress, she looks like someone stole the (flat) shoes she wore out to the pool & she’s inexplicably borrowed some stiletto heels to go back inside & get a towel & another pitcher of drinks. (Why she’s contorting herself like that, I can’t work into the scenario.)

OTOH, if the planes in her face aren’t all photoshop, I’d think she was killer sexy in something more androgynous.
http://www.joannao.blogspot.com JoannaOC

To me, Claire Danes never looks as beautiful as when she is wearing no make-up (or the illusion of no make-up). Her RC looks are always too hard for her features.
frankystein123

Ms. Danes is plenty sexy already, and while this GQ is spread is indeed very flattering for her figure, the I’m-biting-my-lower-lip-which-makes-me-both-cute-and-a-sex-kitten sex face is just a bit much.
Indovina

Those pictures are profoundly unsexy to me.

But I do have to say, and I’ve laughed about this before, there is something inherently hilarious about two gay men opining on what makes a woman sexy.

I think, though, because of the nature of this society, every sexual orientation has an idea of womanly sexiness – but they are different kinds of sexy. What’s generally perceived as “sexy” by gay men is similar but not identical to what’s seen as “sexy” by straight women, both of which are quite distinct from what’s “sexy” to straight men, and all of which differ from what’s “sexy” to lesbians. And as for bisexual people, I think some probably skew more toward their straightly co-gendered and others probably skew more toward their gayly co-gendered. Broadly speaking, of course.
guest2visits

It does look very posed, like most magazines; but she looks good, and sexy, I suppose.
The silly articals make it look like she’s on the cover of the Enquirer. The reflective glass she’s leaning on is kind of scary.
http://seriouslydelusional.blogspot.com/ verimaz

am confused by the frock – not a halter? a halter goes around behind the neck – nothing going on there…
- Sweetvegan
  
  I thought the same thing. It’s not a halter.
TieDye64

Totally hooked on Homeland, thanks to T Lo. Would not have known about it if not for you guys. As far as this editorial goes, it really misses the mark. This is not how you do Claire Danes sexy, just as you pointed out. While not awful, it’s still a fail.
ConnieBV

I’d hit it.
Sweetvegan

The dress is overexposed in the second photo – it’s so bright, you don’t see the details of the dress. But I guess it’s not exactly a fashion shoot. She doesn’t look bad, but very awkward. Both photos have very awkward, unnatural poses.
sweetlilvoice

Agreed! It’s a great show. She looks kind of nutty here so that fits…
littlemac8

I didn’t know it was Claire in the thumbnail – I got a Christie Brinkley vibe, but perhaps that was because I saw her on the HBO documentary last night. Anyway, Claire is a thing unto herself. I don’t think she translates her intensity into sexuality very readily and that is not helped by the fact she was so desperate in Homeland! Speaking of which I thought it was the best show on TV last year – on a par with my favorites Episodes and Justified!
littlemac8

Here’s the thing about Claire: she always looks a little uncomfortable. I think that’s part of her persona and it’s a difficult characteristic to translate into a relatable sexuality.
EEKstl

She actually looks great but it does appear she’s playing against type a bit; yet, as the previous poster wisely stated, she always looks a little uncomfortable.

In any event, LOVE Homeland, can’t wait for S2!!

Share This

Claire Danes for GQ UK Magazine

Archives

Follow us

Archives