It’s impossible to pick one of Lady Gaga’s best looks. There’s her iconic 2009 VMAs performance, which saw her bedazzled lace bodysuit soaked with faux blood, or her horned prosthetics that sent religious communities into a frenzy the following year. A few personal favorites of mine, as a self-proclaimed little monster, also include her drag king stunt as Jo Calderone and that time she emerged from an egg on the 2011 Grammys stage.
During the early ‘00s, she also established The Haus of Gaga, a small creative team responsible for her costumes, props, and sets for many years to come. She is the undisputed queen of transformation and shapeshifting, and since our introduction to her, nearly each album release has seen her drastically change up her look.
Of course, little monsters know that Gaga often created her earliest looks herself, imitating the designs of McQueen and Mugler—both labels that later became synonymous with her style. And while the Joanne and post-Chromatica eras saw her reach a new normalcy (at least in terms of her style), this year’s Grammys seemed to welcome back the old Gaga.
While she didn’t pull the most unusual pieces possible, she did slip into a gothic gown by up-and-coming designer Samuel Lewis, which complemented her equally daring hime haircut (also known as a jellyfish cut). Later, she changed into a pastoral Valentino gown—fresh from Alessandro Michele’s first runway collection for the house—and though the ensemble covered her up entirely, it oozed a similar freakiness as her early aughts style.
A quick glance at her shoes nearly confirmed her comeback: On foot, she wore a towering pair of black stilettos from Mugler’s Fall/Winter 2011 collection, aptly named the “Anatomy of Change.” Erratic footwear was a fixture of her Born This Way era, and as she promoted the album in 2010 and 2011, she styled this particular pair with red-hot suits, an obscene amount of leopard print, and spiked, well, everything.
Pleasers, a then-controversial silhouette most popular among dancers and performers, also entered the singer’s vocabulary at this time—and she’s recently ushered them back into style. Now, we’re waiting with bated breath to see her step out in McQueen’s Armadillo heels, the erratic shape of which intrigued fashion lovers and haters alike upon their inauguration in 2009. (For further proof, see Bazaar’s April 2010 cover story featuring Demi Moore). Even before the style debuted, the 12-inch heels triggered safety concerns, with multiple models refusing to walk in the shoes for fear of severe injury.
Somehow, a strong will and great appreciation for fashion allowed Gaga to wear multiple iterations of the shoes; she wore a python-skin pair to the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2010, a moment she later described as the top outfit of her career (circa 2018). A fellow artist and friend to McQueen, she seemed to share the sentiment that sometimes, a look requires risk and sacrifice.
That said, it’s worth noting McQueen never tested the Armadillos personally. Instead, he made it clear that he was less concerned with practicality than with visual effect. Shortly after the shoes materialized on the runway, he justified his designs, telling Women's Wear Daily that, “the world needs, fantasy, not reality.” He added, “we have enough reality today”—a statement that seems more true now than than when first uttered in 2009.
Nearly two decades after first stepping out in her Mugler heels, Gaga took a softer approach as she took the Grammys stage last Sunday. More demure, and more mature, her look didn’t just pay tribute to the old Gaga. Rather, it reflected her growth over the years, acting as a reflection of who she is now—because this Gaga is not the same as that Gaga, but like the rest of us, her younger version is in there somewhere.
Some have joked the singer is a recession indicator: After all, The Fame was released in 2008, and Chromatica made its debut during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her new album, Mayhem, is set to release this March against a backdrop of political and economic tumult. As if summoned by a bat signal, Gaga has returned when we need her most, at a time when queerness has been criminalized once again (well, as if it ever wasn’t).
The “Born This Way” singer has always embraced queerness, whether through her Grammy speeches, her polarizing performances, or, naturally, her fashion. While she (subjectively) has the voice of an angel, she doesn’t have to open her mouth to get across what she stands for; her clothes speak for themselves. After all, isn’t that the point of fashion? McQueen himself said that fashion should be a form of escapism and not a form of imprisonment.
Gaga may be re-wearing some of her most iconic styles, but alongside them, she’s shown off a pierced latex cape held together by real nails—custom-made by NYC-based latex artist Renee Masoomian—as well as a baroque Samuel Lewis x Suman Gurung x ILONA cape based on the closing number from the Givenchy Fall/Winter 1998 Haute Couture collection (designed by Alexander McQueen, who else?).
While “Abracadabra” has certainly cast its spell upon longtime fans (me included), the old Gaga isn’t quite back. It’s more of a return to form, this time with an updated style that better reflects where we (and she) are now. And as Gaga makes her freaky fashion comeback, consider our paws all the way up.
