Radical Statement

Lady Gaga’s most iconic looks often thrived in controversy. I present to you the white nun outfit that debuted on her Monster Ball Tour in 2010. The album Fame Monster used many religious symbols to show a battle between good and evil. The see-through latex dress embodies the story of Fame Monster using catholic imagery to demonstrate the dark consumption of fame. Instead, it was critiqued harshly for being sacrilegious. But what people didn’t know is that Lady Gaga comes from a catholic upbringing and uses symbols with strategic intent to create analogies of the story she is trying to convey. The reactions to the radical look only promoted her more, especially at a pivotal moment in her career with the release of Born This Way that soon followed.

Born This Way, Gaga shouted louder than a sheer nun look could to make a statement that the United States Government would hear. This was the infamous meat dress. Gaga was referencing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy instituted that allowed queer people to enlist in the military if they didn’t acknowledge their sexuality. The meat symbolized the decay of civil liberties and falls in the art genre, Vanitas.

Vanitas works are characterized by pieces reminding the viewer of their mortality and the worthlessness of goods and worldly pleasures. The art of shock is how Gaga began her career and continues her success. The shock factor of the meat dress is an example of how camp can be used to convey a serious message. One laughs at the idea of someone wearing raw meat as a dress only to discover the tragic message behind the raw truth.

Gaga uses the same methodology of bringing fashion and camp together in her “Telephone” music video. Camp often utilizes unconventional objects, like cigarette glasses (which look extremely comfortable). Gaga looks at fashion as art, not functional for everyday life. Consistently longing for the obscure, one might wonder where she could possibly find inspiration. The cigarette glasses align with the ideology of Pop Art, using common cultural pieces to show art comes from everywhere. Inspiration from Andy Warhol, the leader of Pop Art, is shown consistently throughout Gaga’s life as she pays credit to him for her piss-yellow hair. Another outlook Gaga shows homage to is club kid culture. This 80s and 90s New York community celebrated the unorthodox and the unordinary to extremes. An art era (pop art), a community (club kid culture), and a celebrity icon (Gaga) have one common thread, thriving in their unconventional individuality.