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| Lady Gaga shot by Steven Klein for the launch of her Fame perfume (image from celebuzz.com) |
We may as well call these few days "The Week when Fashion and Music Got Married". Obviously, it's not like the two haven't been shacked up for quite some time but as well as RiRi's River Island project (see Melanie's post yesterday), there's Lady Gaga's perfume campaign shot by Steven Klein, Lana Del Rey modelling and singing (NOT designing, well not yet anyway) for H&M, Kate Moss in George Michael's new video and Madonna's shoe collection, Truth or Dare, landing at Selfridges. Phew. Now we're just waiting for Jessie J to announce a major wig collaboration and the union will be complete.
It's all rather genius. Music stars draw us in not just with their songs but with the image they portray when they're singing to us, whether that's live or via YouTube or Vimeo. Lana Del Rey's atmospheric, Nancy Sinatra-esque vocals become even more emotive and beautiful when you see those devastating lips and beehive hair staring out at you through Vaseline smudged camera lenses. By getting in on the fashion game, fans can feel like they're buying a piece of Gaga/ Rihanna/ Lana magic, even if we can't be a global megastar.
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| Lana del Rey shot by Inez and Vinoodh for H&M (image from H&M's Twitter @handmunitedkingdom) |
Gaga's perfume IS magic actually because it's the world's first ever black fragrance, turning transparent when it's on the skin. It smells of "tears of Belladonna, crushed heart of tiger orchidea, with a black veil of incense, pulverized apricot, and the combinative essences of saffron and honey drops" if you can imagine that. It's quite hard to walk down the street in Gaga-ish get-ups, but if you're a "Little Monster" you can at least smell like your beloved Lady. Tongue-in-cheek music website @popjustice tweeted the following yesterday in response to news that Gaga is not just doing perfume, but also a range of stationery emblazoned with inspirational phrases like "Be Yourself":
Personally I'm holding out for a range of inspirational, life-affirming Lady Gaga cheese graters.
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| Madonna's Truth or Dare shoes at Selfridges cost between £80 and £200 |
Madonna's shoe collection is mostly comprised of black, pointy heels. They verge on the dominatrix but the (subliminal) message is that if you'd like a little dose of kick ass, Madge style without slipping into extreme corsetry and leather then you can slip into a pair of these. Even the name Truth or Dare evokes Madonna's rep for shocking, explicit behaviour. And if, like me, you quite fancy getting a bit of Lana retro loveliness in your life then we can scramble to H&M and get the clothes that the lady herself has been shot in by Inez and Vinoodh (though perhaps not the barely there leggings in the above shot). Perfect, and much more accessible than a Mulberry Lana handbag, though I'm sure many will stretch to that. Will they also be selling hair extensions to achieve that mega bouffant? Finally, George Michael added hype to his new single by inviting Kate Moss to prance through it in a fur coat, undoubtedly adding much-needed glamour to his grim recent history of car crashes and illnesses which he addresses in the lyrics and video. He also adds a zebra for good measure.
Back to Jessie J and she really is the missing link here. Now that The Voice is over, it's an ideal time to commercialise her goth meets gangsta via vintage store look. I'd love to see a hair or beauty link up for her too, that blunt fringe and bold eyes and lips are just as much part of her look as what she wears. Come on Rimmel/ ASOS etc. and get Jessie on board!
