In her 2017 documentary, Five Foot Two, Lady Gaga explains her notorious style:
“When they wanted me to be sexy, when they wanted me to be pop, I always put some absurd spin on it to make me feel like I was in control... If I’m gonna be sexy on the VMAs singing about the paparazzi, I’m gonna do it while bleeding to death, reminding you of what fame did to Marilyn Monroe."
When the industry demanded sex appeal of the musician, she obliged--but only while ensuring her identity remained intact. This is a response I imagine many women feel they must show in the face of incessant pressure to exude beauty. I know I do. Gaga combines sexy elements with strange (or "ugly") ones in her costumes to express that she’s not only a sexual being but an individual as well. I, however, suspect there’s another reason sexy and ugly are such a harmonious pair:
Flattering looks are just boring.
Mulling this over puts me in a time warp and I’m back in my high school ceramics classroom, a repurposed shop class garage, where I wrestled for four years with the concepts of ugly and pretty--the production of perfection versus personality. I wanted to make things pretty more than I cared to make them meaningful. But our teacher, David Echols, relentlessly encouraged us to embrace the flaws in our work, barking this adage at us any chance he got:
“When they wanted me to be sexy, when they wanted me to be pop, I always put some absurd spin on it to make me feel like I was in control... If I’m gonna be sexy on the VMAs singing about the paparazzi, I’m gonna do it while bleeding to death, reminding you of what fame did to Marilyn Monroe."
When the industry demanded sex appeal of the musician, she obliged--but only while ensuring her identity remained intact. This is a response I imagine many women feel they must show in the face of incessant pressure to exude beauty. I know I do. Gaga combines sexy elements with strange (or "ugly") ones in her costumes to express that she’s not only a sexual being but an individual as well. I, however, suspect there’s another reason sexy and ugly are such a harmonious pair:
Flattering looks are just boring.
Mulling this over puts me in a time warp and I’m back in my high school ceramics classroom, a repurposed shop class garage, where I wrestled for four years with the concepts of ugly and pretty--the production of perfection versus personality. I wanted to make things pretty more than I cared to make them meaningful. But our teacher, David Echols, relentlessly encouraged us to embrace the flaws in our work, barking this adage at us any chance he got:
Since I’ve graduated, he’s posted it on the garage door of the classroom, I presume, to preserve his voice because it's well known how eager high schoolers are to take the advice of authority.
Below the quote he’s included two images: one of a youthful pair of hands, and the other of a pair wrinkled with age, experience, and—as Echols would argue—beauty. The weathered, “ugly” hands are rich in history, whereas the “pretty” pair represent nothing of substance--there’s no story there.
This is why we need to make ugly things.
Below the quote he’s included two images: one of a youthful pair of hands, and the other of a pair wrinkled with age, experience, and—as Echols would argue—beauty. The weathered, “ugly” hands are rich in history, whereas the “pretty” pair represent nothing of substance--there’s no story there.
This is why we need to make ugly things.
It’s also what makes looks like these compelling. I shop for clothes and dress myself by Gaga’s credo, although to a lesser degree. In this case, the boots have sex appeal. But the top is an ill-fitting hoodie and, while I have roughly three sad lashes on each lid, I still painted on several coats of an unflattering mascara. You might not think it, but the Vixen and the Eccentric meld with ease. If you remain unconvinced that the unappealing can work for you, consider the following.
Personally experiencing the ugly bits of the world inspires discomfort. But it doesn't take long to learn that nothing much grows inside the comfort zone. The practice of permitting a little discomfort into our lives has real-world implications. For example, if we wish to eradicate a disease we must first learn how it works. Furthermore, in the wake of tragedies like mass shootings, we must understand the psyche of the wrongdoer so that we may do a more thorough job of preventing further atrocities from occurring. I understand that issues related to gun control are far more complex than I depict here, but the metaphor stands.
So. Go get rubbed the wrong way. We need public figures who refuse to feed us sweet lies, we need ugly art, and we need ugly fashion. We don’t have to like it; that’s not the point. But we do have to sit in temporary discomfort to broaden our understanding and experience of the world. After doing so, we may continue making pretty things. We need those too. But I find the most beautiful work contains elements of both. And fashion is a great place to find a supremely satisfying blend.
Personally experiencing the ugly bits of the world inspires discomfort. But it doesn't take long to learn that nothing much grows inside the comfort zone. The practice of permitting a little discomfort into our lives has real-world implications. For example, if we wish to eradicate a disease we must first learn how it works. Furthermore, in the wake of tragedies like mass shootings, we must understand the psyche of the wrongdoer so that we may do a more thorough job of preventing further atrocities from occurring. I understand that issues related to gun control are far more complex than I depict here, but the metaphor stands.
So. Go get rubbed the wrong way. We need public figures who refuse to feed us sweet lies, we need ugly art, and we need ugly fashion. We don’t have to like it; that’s not the point. But we do have to sit in temporary discomfort to broaden our understanding and experience of the world. After doing so, we may continue making pretty things. We need those too. But I find the most beautiful work contains elements of both. And fashion is a great place to find a supremely satisfying blend.