Fashion Czar: She dares to kiss Jesus

Fashion Czar is a weekly comment from the Editor, Phillip Crook.

Yes, we LOVE Lady Gaga. But shall we reflect for just a moment on the original mistress of reinvention?

Ok, let's.

In her most recent evolution, Madonna shed her usual abrasiveness and served up a more refined – though still appropriately punchy – Queen of Pop.

This is a Madonna with finesse, but without sensationalized sex or in-your-face Kabbalah bracelets.

Madonna's greatest hits album, Celebration.

To commemorate her greatest hits album, out last month, the Queen debuted two new songs. The title track, Celebration, effectively condenses the many evolutions of her career into one simple lyric: "If it makes you feel good, then I say do it."

What more appropriate maxim is there for a performer who invades political comfort zones, pushes sexual boundaries, challenges religion and does it all while dancing in a pair of 6-inch heels?

The song’s video goes even farther in bringing us the best of Madonna. Here we see icon, mother, dancer and fashion-forward femme converge.

A series of quick cuts and sped-up shots of Madonna & Co. dancing to exhaustion, the Jonas Akerlund-directed video is the visual equivalent of raving on some disorienting drug.

And swallowing the Madonna pill has never been so much fun.



Dressed for her party in a studded leather mini-dress and black knee-high Louboutin boots, the Queen meets her usual standards of fabulousness and displays the age-defying body that has helped keep her famous.

Never one to totally shy from controversy, Madonna infused the video with buzz by including a cameo from her post-divorce boy toy, Jesus Luz, who acts as the party’s DJ. Luz made waves by appearing nude in Madonna’s March, 2009 shoot for W.

Apparently, we are to conclude Jesus is well sculpted and musical.

The song is ready made for gay dance clubs, as is the case with almost every Madonna track, but with her greatest hits video Madonna delivers what we’ve come to love most about her: full-body pelvic thrusts, a fierce aesthetic and a little water cooler conversation.

 

Rag Report: Gone GaGa for the Lady

Rag Report dives under the covers of fashion publications to rant or rave about all the glossy goodness. 

In V Magazine's Fall 2009 issue, chart-topping, Billboard-record-breaker-extraordinaire, Lady GaGa, gets “hood” with metallic makeup and a serious fake tan. 

Though it’s the first time that the GaGa has donned the cover of the oversized magazine (which is seriously the size of a totebag), it featured her in the previous issue. 

Clearly the magazine's a fan. 

When we heard about her upcoming cover, we expected a crazy outfit with a theme only she could pull off. Our verdict: Lady GaGa toned it down this time around.

 

V Magazine Fall 2009

In the last issue, her half-naked body and exposed breasts made appearances in about three pictures. On the cover though, Lady Gaga apparently just wants to look fierce. And with neon all over the place, she’s keeping it trendy.

The cover reads "It’s Lady Gaga’s World," and with the upcoming tour and re-release of her album, The Fame Monster, it just might be. She’s like this generation’s Madonna because she speaks with her clothes and has an original attitude toward fashion.

 

Rolling Stone June 2009

Of course, such fashion extravagance comes with many questions from fans, press, and onlookers alike. In a Rolling Stone interview she defended her infamous pantsless look, saying, “My grandmother is basically blind, but she can make out the lighter parts, like my skin and hair. She says, ‘I can see you, because you have no pants on.' So I'll continue to wear no pants so that my grandma can see me."

Evidently, this generation has a new pop and fashion icon, so we say: put Madonna to rest, hail Lady Gaga.

- by Elton Wong