Pop icon Lady GaGa, not content with completely dominating the mediasphere has decided to make good on the prospect of believing her own press by writing it herself. With footnotes.
The omnipresent chart-topper doesn’t just star on the cover for The Asian Issue (#71, below) of V Magazine, but she proves her mettle with the detailed column From the Desk Of Lady GaGa, in which she challenges haters by proving just how much she knows about the glam culture she’s constantly accused of rehashing – more, she reckons, than many of her critics.
The column, written in memorandum form, is copied in to ‘Bullies’ and ‘Fashion-Sexuals’, as well as designer Nicola Formachetti and artistic inspiration Andy Warhol. We’ve got a searing extract for you right here:
“Glam culture is ultimately rooted in obsession, and those of us who are truly devoted and loyal to the lifestyle of glamour are masters of its history. Or, to put it more elegantly, we are librarians. I myself can look at almost any hemline, silhouette, beadwork, or heel architecture and tell you very precisely who designed it first, what French painter they stole it from, how many designers reinvented it after them, and what cultural and musical movement parented the birth, death, and resurrection of that particular trend. So dear critics and bullies: get your library cards out, because I’m about to do a reading…
…I have a passionate understanding of the history of many of the references that not only I have reinspired, but have been reinterpreted over centuries of fashion: where they came from, what they meant, and specifically how they became modern again. I have concurrently shown that I could “read you” in this subject, but I would rather reckon with the fact that many are clinging tightly to cultural divisiveness and leaving home without library cards.
Just like sometimes Picasso was Matisse’s Mondrian, and vice versa. Bowie is often my Mondrian, as are Michael Jackson, Prince, Lita Ford, and Madonna. Mugler is my silhouette’s Mondrian, Cindy Crawford is my sexuality’s, Kermit is my whimsy’s, and, in my “Born This Way” video, two of my Mondrians were Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí. In a lot of ways the “idea” of being obsessed with art is my Mondrian. Just like Campbell’s Tomato Soup was Warhol’s Mondrian, and Marilyn Monroe and Maripol were Madonna’s. I am obsessed with all the authors in the library of pop culture.“
The fashion-happy can read the entire article over at V Magazine, but safe to say, this Lady thinks she knows her stuff. She’s even included academic references on page two. Who said University standards were outdated?
via V Magazine.
