Lady Gaga is no novice when it comes to making a statement on the red carpet, something she confirmed to the “nth” degree with her dramatic and undeniably on-brand appearance on the 2019 Met Gala red carpet on Monday night, where attendees dressed to the nines in honor of its Camp: Notes on Fashion theme.
Arriving in an gloriously outrageous fuchsia pink cape gown designed by her friend Brandon Maxwell with a 25 foot train which she accessorized with an oversized pink hair bow and dramatic eye makeup, Gaga was one of the first to arrive and commanded the red carpet with a regality that comes from years of embodying the camp aesthetic both on and off stage, as she assumed her hosting duties for the night alongside Harry Styles, Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, Serena Williams and Anna Wintour.
For many, the night’s missive to embody the over-the-top sensibility of camp may have been out of their comfort zone, but for Gaga, resplendent in her Brandon Maxwell gown, it was hardly amateur night — she used the red carpet as an opportunity for performance art. Beginning with walking multiple blocks in her dress with an entourage that included five dancers, her makeup artist and her personal photographer, she then removed her voluminous pink cape dress (with the help of designer Maxwell) to reveal a second look, a vampy corseted black dress. She then upped the ante by stripping to a crystal bra, undergarments and pantyhose, before changing into a third and final look, a hot pink column gown, which she wore with a pair of sunglasses and a dazzling necklace before flamboyantly applying lipstick in front of the cameras on the red carpet.
We should keep in mind, after all, this is a woman who once sported a dress made entirely of meat and who was once carried into an awards show in an egg. If there’s ever been a night for Gaga to shine, it’s the camp-themed Met Gala.
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Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com