I was mindlessly flipping through TV channels during my holiday, when I came across a program called Gaga by Gaultier. The title intrigued me. Not just because I enjoy Gaga's music, and not just because I enjoy Gaultier's playfulness, but because it suggested a meeting between fashion's enfant terrible, and music's enfante terrible (I'd say few people would disagree with this title for Lady Gaga). And when you combine two provocative artists, what do you get?
You get a wonderfully revealing, surprisingly real interview between Gaga and Gaultier that, if you don't already, will certainly help you gain more respect for Gaga, and even the fashion industry. The thing about this interview that was so eye-opening was the way Gaga presented herself. She didn't use her usual powerful, stone-cold voice, instead she loosened up to become feminine, womanly, and essentially more human, but still very true to the persona she has come to build.
Before, I move on, I'd like to point out her outfit. It was still over-the-top, but you'll notice it was significantly more elegant than her usual attire. She had on a flowing black dress that was slit open down her upper body, but the rest of her was completely covered. Very dark, yet sophisticated and modest. And the large, clear earrings she had on made the slightly ghoulish eye makeup look infinitely more classy. It was a Gaga I was not used to seeing.
However, what I was truly not used to was not her appearance, but her words. She spoke candidly of her childhood, her life as an outsider, her triumphs and her mistakes, her fans, and most importantly, her music. She joked around lightly with Gaultier, and she emphasized the dangers of drug use. Surprisingly, not once, until the very end, did she use a profanity. She spoke intelligently, and her responses revealed a woman of values and a woman of talent.
There was one line that really resonated with me, and because there is no online video of this interview, I cannot quote it, but I will paraphrase it: "You have to stay true to your creativity. The worst thing that can happen is to have your creativity call you on the telephone, to say that it's never calling you again." And it was in that line that you understand why Lady Gaga is provocative as she is. She isn't acting out for the public; she's acting out for herself. Or more accurately, she just is herself.
And isn't that why the fashion world loved Jean-Paul Gaultier? Because he stayed true to his avant-garde designs? If not, at least we know that's why Gaga loves him. It was amazing, when Gaultier took her around his workspace, to see her jaw literally drop at the sight of a black, bondage-esque piece, and to see the look of pride and happiness on Gaultier's face. If nothing else, fashion thrives on passion.
Gaga by Gaultier was such a tender interview between the two artists. Gaultier was as sweet as ever, and Gaga was highly respectable. Although the ending where Gaultier runs towards Gaga (as he does to all his starring women in his runway shows) with a bouquet of roses, atop a building overlooking a lit-up Eiffel Tower, was a bit cheesy, it highlighted the fact that there's humanness in all of us.
So the meeting between two enfants terribles results in a friendship more raw and subdued than any of us would have thought. But then again, a nun being punished by a priest?
Once an enfant terrible, always an enfant terrible.
Image Source: Photo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Image Source: Photo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
