Actress Lena Dunham has taken aim at weight critics for commenting on the size of her thighs during a recent red carpet appearance in Los Angeles.

The Girls star posed for photographs at the L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade event on 29 September in a long teal tunic with a barely visible pair of shorts underneath, but the following day she received a backlash for showing too much skin.

The 26 year old has now defended her decision to flaunt her curvy figure, insisting her look would not have made headlines if she had a body like actress Olivia Wilde's.

Speaking to reporters at a New Yorker Festival event, she said, "Last week I wore something to an event... a big top and little shorts, and a bunch of (blog posts) came out that I had been out without pants. I actually saw it... 'Love it or hate it: The no pants look.' My mum... thought it was so funny. My boyfriend (Fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff) was like, 'People seem to be worked up about you going out without pants.' But I didn't go out without pants! I had shorts on.

"If Olivia Wilde had gone to a party in... little shorts, she might have been on a 'weird dressed list' or been told her outfit was cute. I don't think a girl with tiny thighs would have received such no-pants attention.

"I think what it really was... 'Why did you all make us look at your thighs?' My response is, get used to it because I am going to live to be 100, and I am going to show my thighs every day till I die."