don't call my name / don't call my name

Lady Gaga is on track to start shooting the music video for Alejandro pretty soon. I've been listening to the record a lot lately, wondering what kind of fashion and images are going to be incorporated into the video. I forsee a lot of rich textures. For some reason I keep having a vision of her wearing this cloud-like puff of black organza? I can't see what kind of garment it is but it definitely is like an Edwardian ruff collar, lots of volume, and totally see-through. My vision was inspired by the artwork for the record:

I know there's no organza here, but something about the record's sound- the throbbing beat with the screechy violin and ace-of-base-esque electronic tones- feels like a more muted color palette, the total opposite of the technicolor Telephone video.

Just a few thoughts. More to come later. I'm really excited to see what Gaga does with the Alejandro video. Aside from "Eh, Eh" it's really her first slow-ER record that is a lot more serious and sentimental then the beat-banging club smashes like Bad Romance or Poker Face. The record has a really different sound, it's definitely going to be a great video.

stop callin / stop callin

Gaga's new video for her record "Telephone" ft. Beyonce premiered last night. Still trying to catch my breath.

A true pop moment. A true fashion moment.

Gaga is changing pop culture. THE END.

here are some stills I really liked:

over the moon

The Armani Prive Haute Couture Spring 2010 was the most beautiful couture collection I have seen in a while, by far my favorite of the season. The collection was inspired by the moon. While I didn't necessarily agree with some of the moon motifs, this dress totally made up for it. I saw this on video and lost my breath, the way it moves on the runway is so elegant and graceful. Looking at this dress move felt like staring up at the moon. And whatever naysayers say fashion can't evoke an emotional response, I challenge you to look at this dress and feel otherwise:

Lady Gaga wore a dress from the collection to the Grammys the other day. So perfect, so Armani, so Gaga, so great. I especially love the starburst she's holding in her hand. It clearly has no function other than an aesthetic one, but it perfectly balances out the dress and completes the look. Oh, and I just want to know how she got in and out of her limo wearing this dress.

Note: her shoes appear to be deyfing gravity...

THE MONSTER BALL: a fashionable perspective

Last night me and a close friend trekked out to Ottawa to see Lady Gaga in her latest "electro-pop opera" musical performance shindig, The Monster Ball. The performance was incredible... the art direction! the choreography! the live singing! the art films! the stage! the message! My mind was completely blown, and walking away from the stadium, my resolve had never been stronger... Gaga is truly an artist capable at once of entertaining and sending a powerful message.

But, loyal blog readers, this is at the end of the day a style blog. So let's stay on point.

The theme of the show, according to Gaga interviews from the past several weeks, is evolution. "How we start off as one thing.... and become another." The show could be taken as a sort of post-apocalyptic view of humanity. Gaga begins the show in a nude spandex suit with built in sparkling lights, very basic and simple, almost elemental in the way she stands out against the dark background. Her dancers are in similar plain catsuits with bone-like headgear and arm-piece-covering-things.

I think my favorite moment as far as costuming  was during her performance of "Monster" and was going for a sort of Red-Riding Hood theme (without the red riding hood, actually?) Gaga appears in a sort of dark forest wearing what appears to be a large fur capelet which covers her entire torso. Dancers slowly accumulate on the stage in equally as frightening black fur ensembles, resembling monsters. They pose this way and that way and terrorize poor Lady Gaga, until the end when Gaga drops off her fur and is in a teeny leather bustier and panties. Oh, how we evolve from natural, furry little monsters into fetishized oversexed monsters. The ensemble changes, bu tthe monster is always within....

Another important moment which I really enjoyed was during her rendition of "Paparazzi" while wearing the leather coat featured on the album cover:

Gaga is crouching on some scaffolding like the big things that lights in a theater are mounted on, and the scaffolding is lifted about 10 feet in the air to simulate this image of Gaga sneaking around in the rafters, and a projection of a silhouette dancing against a wall of lights is played in the background, like Gaga is a stalker, a monster, the phantom of the opera? She sings the song which addresses the themes of obsession with celebrity, blah blah blah, all the while with the leather coat covering her face as in the picture. I loved how Gaga used the fashion to literally obscure her face and become an anonymous little fame-whoring-celebrity-chasing monster. Delicious.

In keeping with the theme of evolution, the last ensemble of the evening was a pantsuit. I thought it was ironic, actually, starting out with this raw, elemental, primordial look evoking skin and bones, and ending up in a bright white pantsuit with massive Quasimodo-style shoulders constructed into the jacket. We start out as one thing and become another....

SO I can't really due justice to the entire art/fashion direction and styling of the show, but just walk away form this blog post knowing that missing out on the Monster Ball is missing out on a powerful, emotional, moving, compelling, fashion and music show/performance.

gaga, oh la la!

The upcoming December issue of Vogue is gearing up to be a winner. I wish I could express my undying love for both Grace Coddington and Annie Liebovitz, especially for picking a Hansel & Gretel theme! But wait, there's more... Lady Gaga was cast as the witch!

The pictures look incredible, and both of the models have a really editorial/young look to them which makes them perfect for this kind of shoot. Here are some of my favorite images:

I love how as the story progresses, Gretel's style, starting out as purely fun and girly, gets a little more sophisticated and less nieve. By the end, she is wearing a slightly more complex garment which is form fitting and shows off her body. By the end, Gretel has the confidence and power to fight back against the witch and her clothes reflect this.

Hmmm I understand that Vogue is ultimately a women's fashion magazine, but I really would have liked to see some more variety on Hansel!

Gaga is absolutely rocking in her two Marc Jacobs ensembles. Totally Gaga and totally Vogue, great shoot.

Interesting GaGa Outfit allusions....

Just came across this on OhNoTheyDidn't.com

Someone made the connection between the outfits Gaga wore to the VMAs and Alice in Wonderland. Everything makes sense now!!

What do you guys think??

When she arrived, she was the mad hatter because that's how a lot of people view her... kind of wild and out of control.

When she was performing, she was the rabbit because she wanted us to come down and see how deep the rabbit hole really goes. She wanted her performance to take us on a kind of eyeopening journey, and that it did-- she finished in a totally unexpected way, dangling from the ceiling dripping in blood.

When she accepted her award, she was the queen of hearts because she is the queen of all of our hearts! We love Gaga!

When she was doing paparazzi photos after the ceremony, she was the White Queen, regal and accomplished.

Genius....

HAUS OF GAGA PRESENTS-- THE MONSTER BALL

Just bought my ticket to Lady Gaga's Monster Ball next month and couldn't be happier... This show is going to be a SMASH if it is anything like when I saw her Fame Ball last March. Expect lots of fashion commentary after I see the show.

(I'm totally loving her new single, Bad Romance... Has all the parts of a huge pop blockbuster, but also has a new sort of grotesque element.... Halloween came early for Gaga!)

LES Avant-Gardistes: Lady Gaga and Rei Kawakubo.

Here's some of the cover art from Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster" album due out next month. Its relation to fashion, you ask? I saw it and I knew right away... Gaga is impersonating Rei Kawakubo, designer of the monolithic fashion house Comme des Garcons. The hair seems to be a direct reference with the angular bob and the straight bangs. The patent leather jacket Gaga is sporting seems to be a reference to Comme des Garcons Spring 2009 collection which made a huge use of angular, architectural, highly structured leathers.

Analyzing the picture a little bit more reveals Gaga's true genius. She is invoking not only the image of the fashion icon that Kawakubo is, but what Kawakubo has come to represent in and of herself.

Comme des Garcons is undoubtedly one of the most significant avant-garde fashion houses of the twentieth century. During the eighties, when everyone was all about color and pizazz, CDG was the first label to pioneer black as a high-fashion medium. I can't emphasize enough how their work with black in the 80s came to effect high fashion in the 90s or even street style today.

Gaga is invoking the avant-garde nature of CDG. I know what you're thinking... how can a Top 40 pop singer dare to call herself avant-garde? Well, my friends, I could go on and on and on about that one, but let's stick to the fashion. (In short, I think it was extremely avant-garde of Gaga before she was famous to go deep into the Lower East Side hipster scene in NYC and play pop music... brilliant!)

Just like Kawakubo has always been reclusive and media-shy, Gaga wants her work to speak for itself. She is holding her jacket across her face. The big dramatic haircut distracts us from her face. All we see of her is her piercing eyes. This ties into Lady Gaga's notions about "the fame" and how celebrity comes to transcend the individual. AGH IM GETTING CARRIED AWAY I COULD WRITE AN ESSAY ON THIS STUFF!!

Bottom line-- fashion/art/music is the name of the game, and Gaga wants us to realize that her art is becoming monolithic enough to her genre as we know it: how we listen to pop music, how pop music is created, and how we obsess over pop culture.

Well done, Gaga.