The Style of Sound: No One Does It Like Gaga
She lives for the applause and always turns a look: Lady Gaga’s ever-changing aesthetic reflects her artistic evolution while raising the bar for other artists and changing the fashion industry at large.
From the stage to the runway, The Style of Sound is a series that explores the intricate relationships forged between your favorite artists and their iconic fashion statements.
Written by Allison Knodle
Photo courtesy of Kevin Winter
When I opened iTunes on my brand new hot pink iPod Nano in the fourth grade, the first song I ever bought was “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga. I listened to it on repeat all Christmas Day circa 2009, and imprinted upon me was the budding legacy of an out-of-this-world pop star whose glamor and uniqueness felt completely alien to me as a middle schooler living in Houston, Texas. Even after “Just Dance,” my childhood was filled with images of Gaga’s extravagance. I would creep around my bedroom chanting "RAH RAH" pretending to be in the bleak Russian bathhouse of Bad Romance. Those moments with Lady Gaga inspired in me, and other gangly middle schoolers, an obsession with fashion that stemmed from her ability to fearlessly bring the avant-garde, sometimes ridiculous world of high fashion to the mainstream. In the early 2000s, her fashion and music collided in a unique manner that created a new genre of pop stardom, one that transcended regular fame and manifested in an enigmatic artist.
From cheap wigs and costume-y looks to haute couture, this Italian-American pop princess (born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) from New York maintains her relevance by subverting expectations, avant-garde styling, and setting the standard for high art while still acknowledging the sometimes outlandish nature of the style. She encapsulates otherworldliness; the refined artistry of a true pop star. Previous pop moguls have experimented with fashion, from Madonna to Britney Spears, but Gaga changed the way fashion functioned, elevating musicians to the status of the elitist and wealthy world, symbolizing the real power of celebrity. In one of her most famous quotes, she expresses how music and fashion intersect:
“I think that fashion and music go hand-in-hand, and they always should. It’s the artist’s job to create imagery that matches the music. I think they’re very intertwined.”
Rarely does a pop star so aggressively camp grace the world with her presence. Her delicately crafted persona enables her style while leaving room for constant rebirth. Gaga never sits too comfortably in one aesthetic. Inspired by musicians like David Bowie and Elton John, she isn’t afraid to shock and consistently show up for herself — not the press, not the fans. At her core, she dresses for herself. Her style reflects the evolution of her discography, and her willingness to shock opened the floor to more experimentation in fashion for other stars.
Early in her career, wardrobe options were limited. Her “Just Dance” era is marked by the iconic electric blue bodysuit, blunt bleached bangs, and the same oversized sunglasses worn by Biggie Smalls. “I wore probably one of three different outfits for about five years straight because that’s what I could afford and I wanted people to always recognize me,” Lady Gaga said in a recent video with Vogue, which was a breakdown of her most iconic looks through the years, including the Chromatica album cover, the Armani hoop dress from the 2010 Grammy Awards, and the meat dress (more on that later). Like many stars, she rose to fame by creating an identity for herself, one she marked with stripper heels, tights, bodysuits, and wigs galore.
When she met her first stylist, Nicola Formichetti, it was taboo for musicians to work with fashion stylists. “Music stylists were just doing music people, and fashion stylists would never touch music people. I loved her and wanted to work with her, even though those around me were not really supportive,” Formichetti said in an interview with FashionWeekDaily. Musicians just weren't haute couture clients. In recent years, this has changed — partly due to Gaga and musicians like her who took the first steps toward breaking into the fashion world. Today, red carpet events like the Met Gala are filled with big-ticket musicians and pop stars decked out with custom or borrowed couture garments.
Formichetti, the powerhouse behind Gaga's iconic early looks, was one of the pioneers that helped break the barrier between music and fashion for celebrities. They met in 2009, and early in Gaga’s career, he went to great lengths to ensure Gaga wasn’t wearing cheap costumes. Formichetti lied to borrow clothes for ‘editorials’ (which were in fact for Lady Gaga’s music video for the song “Paparazzi”). “When I first started borrowing clothes for Gaga, people said no," Formichetti said in an interview with Bustle. "They were like, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, we don't think she's right,' or 'She's a bit crazy looking.' So I made stuff, and we had young designers make stuff for us, and there were a few designers that were really into her from the beginning, like Alexander McQueen and Miuccia Prada."
Lady Gaga also developed a close relationship with designer Alexander McQueen in 2009. The two adored each other’s strangeness and thrived when working together. Lady Gaga even credited McQueen for inspiring her song “Born This Way,” written right after his death in 2010. Their collaborative friendship culminated with his styling in the “Bad Romance” music video. McQueen allowed Formichetti to borrow whatever garments he liked from his Spring/Summer 2010 collection Plato’s Atlantis, known for its remarkably high pointed heels and geometric silhouettes. It gave the video an unforgettable futuristic edge which raked in more than 400 million views back then.
Set in the 'Bathhaus of Gaga,' the video creates its own dystopian universe, with Lady Gaga as the main character, she twitches and bugs out in a tub, wearing an opaque pleather bodysuit with X-ed out nipples, prances around in McQueen’s sky high heels. At one point she’s thrown in front of a crowd of men, seemingly against her will, and forced to dance for them in a crystal embellished garment complete with a matching head piece. The bridge cuts between her in a metal corset with gravity defying rings emanating out of her torso and a geometric garment made from metallic studs, another nod to McQueen. The video became a cultural phenomenon, and launched Lady Gaga into the world of high-end fashion.
Photo courtesy of Chris Pizello
She didn’t stop there. At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards came one of her most loved (and hated) looks: the Meat Dress. Makeup artist Val Garland, who once wore a dress of sausages to a party, inspired the look, who once wore a dress of sausages to a party. The dress was an ode to LGBTQ allyship — at the time, the House of Representatives was trying to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Before changing into the meat dress, Gaga showed up on the red carpet with soldiers discharged from the armed forces for being gay. When asked about her reason for wearing such a garment, Gaga stated, “If you are willing to die for your country, what does it matter how you identify?”
The dress consisted of slabs of beef gracefully and painstakingly sewn onto a corset, with each slab adding a layer of dimension. The outfit included a matching meat fascinator and intestine bag, with beefy boots wrapped in twine. It reeked of raw meat (obviously). Yes, it was real, and today it sits in a museum, where it was dried, preserved, and painted to maintain its vibrant red color.
There’s something undeniably alien about how Lady Gaga presents herself, both in music and in fashion. She has built a career by creating sounds that appeal to the deepest parts of the human psyche while managing to embody the aesthetic of a high-end Martian.
We're all so used to pop stars being nothing more than pretty faces in pretty dresses. Lady Gaga subverts the typical pop star mold by adding an element of performance art to every public appearance. She never just gets on stage and sings her songs, she makes a statement; she hangs her lifeless, bleeding body from the ceiling on stage at the VMAs to represent how fame kills you inside. She is both the artist and the art. Her attire compliments the music, adding another layer of intrigue to her persona. She created an uncanny valley for herself, allowing her to morph into whatever creature she wants to be next.
Lady Gaga’s untouchable persona and self-described “show with no intermission” set early 2010s Tumblr aflame. Gaga’s chokehold on early 2010s Tumblr had her in complex leather corsets, trending among images glorifying cigarettes and mental illness, and giving rise to bondage culture. In the mainstream, 2010s fashion wasn’t so over the top. Business casual-esque Aztec print, peplum, skater skirts, and chunky necklaces, became the epitome of stylish. Today, it’s so much more common to see avant-garde styling on social media, using garments in ways you wouldn't expect, excessive layering — like in the “subversive-basic” style. People are experimenting with silhouettes, textures and shapes in ways we’ve never seen before, and though Lady Gaga can’t be entirely credited for creating this trend, it’s definitely the effect of her style trickling down into the mainstream.
Gaga gave other 2010s female musicians the opening to find their own style in the public eye — in typical Gaga fashion, an extravagant way. Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj both attempted Gaga-style groundbreaking looks, with their own music playing a role in how they dress. Katy Perry, with her bubblegum pop and breakout chart-topping album, Teenage Dream, constructed a younger more campy aesthetic that focused on grabbing wandering eyes with its colorful, whimsical charm. From her chandelier dress to her hamburger suit (both worn at the 2019 Met Gala), she falls short of classy and lands in more gimmicky territory. Unlike Gaga, Perry’s music set clear boundaries for her stylistic aesthetic choices instead of allowing her to branch out from from cotton candy pop princess.
Image courtesy of Young Money/Cash Money Records
On the other hand, female rapper Nicki Minaj’s signature style is colorful, bold, and playful, especially early in her career. Her Pink Friday album era was full of vibrant neon wigs, frivolous textures and patterns, and some wacky, yet high-end designer pieces. She’s neon lit, almost like a cool video game character. Nicki Minaj’s impact on pop culture trickled down. She’s arguably one of the main celebrities responsible for shifting the beauty standard and praising curvy women, ultimately changing the fashion industry altogether. Like Lady Gaga, she’s self-aware and doesn’t confine herself to a box. "Some will hate (my style) and some will love it, but all will remember it. And that's what I want: to be remembered,” Minaj said in an interview with Glamour. An artist’s personal style is not about pleasing the audience so much as being a form of unabashed self expression, which both Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga effortlessly portray.
Lady Gaga made it acceptable for female musicians to express themselves through fashion. In years past, we’ve seen the likes of Bjork and Madonna torn apart in the press for their looks, and Lady Gaga was no different; though now it seems no one dares to critique what so effortlessly demands respect. Women musicians have long been under the restrictive thumb of media scrutiny, but things started to change when Gaga came on the scene. She took criticism as a compliment, only leaning further into the vulgarity and strangeness others try to subdue.
Nowadays, though still turning a look every now and then, (dare I say) her style is more relaxed. Her “A Star Is Born” era, marked by piano ballads with a singer-songwriter ambience, primed her for more toned-down, stripped-back looks than her style in the past, opting for designers like Dior with classic tailoring and flattering lines. I think it's symbolic of her status; with such great respect for her name, she no longer needs to fight for attention. She came, she saw, and she conquered; now it’s her chance to sit back and watch the effect of her style on those currently rising to fame. Lady Gaga reminds us all to forget society’s standards. Wear that weird outfit you love but might get dirty looks for. No one becomes iconic without making a few mistakes, and often those mistakes blossom into flowers of inspiration.