REMINISCING ON LADY GAGA’S ICONIC ‘THE FAME MONSTER’ ERA
words by ANOUK WOUDT
The year is 2009, and you’re watching Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé’s Telephone music video for the first time. Yellow wigs and spiky, studded bras flash across your screen, radiating her signature avant-garde provocation with a rawness that feels so rare nowadays.
Since then, we have seen endless transformations of Lady Gaga — all kinds of different personas and aesthetics, settling slowly into a more elegant version of herself. But somehow those early, slightly unhinged beginnings still hold a special place in our hearts. Unlike most artists, who evolve into their stage persona, when the spotlight shone on her, Gaga was already fully realised, full of an authentic audacity that makes this era unforgettable.
all images via pinterest.com
From the minute Lady Gaga took to the stage, her presence was magnetic. With her debut album, The Fame, she had already begun to craft a style that stands out as entirely her own. Going back to her 2007 Lollapalooza performance before the debut album had even been released, you can see that energy come to life. Dressed in thigh-high sheer stockings and a disco ball brassiere, her look was always so incredibly Gaga, even when performing to a small audience that pales in comparison to the sold-out shows that were yet to come. Ironically, Paparazzi was on the set-list well before she had any sort of press attention, so maybe she was always destined to be famous! With The Fame, we came to know her iconic hair-bow wigs, which became her signature accessory and were glued to her look as an artist. However, this was only the start of a long line of (iconic) kitschiness.
This debut may have cemented her style as an artist, but it was only when she released The Fame Monster in 2009, as a reissue of that first album, that she really started getting into her classic theatrical pop provocateur style. Fashion became inseparable from her identity, with her looks generating just as much conversation as the music itself. As she dipped into a darker, more gothic alter ego, we see this “monster” come out, ecstatic with its newfound fame, while also exposing the paranoia and unease that came with actually living in it. The glossy fantasy of The Fame is flipped, transforming Gaga herself into a performance art, exploring just how far the spotlight’s demand for attention can push you.
With its dramatics and narrative established, you can see why this era enabled us to see the most iconic Gaga fits come to life. I’m talking the Fame Ball Tour Bubble dress, her classic blood-soaked 2009 VMAS performance and, of course, the Meat Dress, which is so iconic it has its own Wikipedia page. But, it doesn’t stop there. This era also brought us the 2009 MuchMusic firecracker bra and her royally chic 2010 VMAs red carpet look (the same night as Meat Dress!) in an ode to her late friend and collaborator, Alexander McQueen. Strutting in his Armadillo boots and an ombre wig, she easily established herself as one of the music’s most eccentric stars, with this era entering her on the grounds amid the greats, like Bowie and Madonna.
If there was a red carpet, you came to expect Lady Gaga to saunter in wearing something crazier each time. She became known for her multiple outfit changes per event — especially at every VMA awards show — because, of course, why just choose one look, when you can wear them all! Her avant-garde pop star persona followed her into the beginnings of the Born This Way era, before slowly tapering off into something a bit more polished. The messiness she started with became more thought-out, concluding this style with ARTPOP, before completely graduating to her jazzier Cheek to Cheek self. These eras feel an eternity away, though we can see that even Gaga is missing her Little Monster roots nowadays, reviving her own legacy with her latest album, Mayhem. Though it will never be as outrageous as the original — a moment in time defined by chaos and couture in a way that can never quite be replicated.
