Lady Gaga is, and always has been, the moment.
Between her utterly brilliant music, multiple movie roles and beautiful — as well as controversial — fashion choices, Lady Gaga has stood out in a big way for years.
Now, she prepares to release “MAYHEM,” her eighth studio album since her first album release, “The Fame,” in the summer of 2008. This Friday, all the songs will be yours. In the meantime, let’s take a look back at her best — and wildest — looks throughout her career.
Gaga is very familiar with the strange and unusual. From the beginning of her career, she has used her platinum blonde hair and the oddest looks designers could pull together to stun fans and skeptics alike. This Jean Paul Gaultier ensemble is a perfect example.
Regal and commanding, Gaga graced the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with feathers, lace and gold details, expertly cultivating an aesthetic that would rule her music career.
At the same event, she performed her song, “Paparazzi,” in knee-high white leather boots, fishnets and an asymmetrical top that matched her pink hair perfectly. The kicker? Halfway through the performance, fake blood started bubbling out of her top and down her front, staining her virginal white clothing with red.
Next, we have the look that everyone and their mother knows: the meat dress. Premiered at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga walked the carpet in a dress made entirely of raw meat, save for the cleverly hidden corset underneath.
Franc Fernandez, the designer of the garment that would come to be known as Time Magazine’s #1 Fashion Statement of 2010, according to Glamour, said that “it feels wrong, so it’s fun to do.” According to an article from BBC, it was the “horror movie” aesthetic that appealed to Fernadez and Gaga alike: “It smelled like meat. It was thrilling to wear,” Gaga said.
While nothing can truly follow the meat dress, Gaga continued to shock crowds in the following years. In 2011, she showed up to the Grammy Awards in a giant egg, only “hatching” to make her graceful exit when it came time to perform.
According to Vanity Fair, it proved difficult to find enough latex to cover the egg and the outfits of the four models carrying the singer down the red carpet. Gaga said that they had to partner with a bus company with the amount of material they would need: “Everybody’s fashion that’s made here was made from the fabric from seats for a bus.”
From her mermaid-themed bikini, wearing a reproduction of the Mona Lisa and even riding onto the red carpet on a human-operated horse, Gaga has really done it all.
Her most recent music video for her new song, “Abracadabra,” showcases the eclectic kookiness that she’s embraced for years. Gaga notoriously mixes beauty, elegance and a flair for the unusual with ease, and it’s clear that this new era will be no different.
Gaga’s newest album, “MAYHEM,” is out this Friday. Don’t miss out.
