8 Times Lady Gaga Failed At Fashion And 8 Times She Nailed It

There's no denying that Lady Gaga walks a fine line with her fashion choices. Whilst she hails from the fashion capital of the world and often shows brilliant insight and PR skills in her fashion choices, there are others who write Gaga off as a hysterical woman. Even though she is pretty self-conscious about being Gaga. Theses have been written on the subject of Gaga's identity politics, and we have to admit to being fascinated by what she's wearing because it is so patently a sometimes obscure social commentary. Whether she is physically capable of wearing her chosen outfit without external help has never held the performer back yet. And she has undeniably pushed the boundary when it comes to what to wear. From the time she flew through the air in fashion's first heli-dress, to the time she carved a place at the table of fame in her infamous meat dress, Gaga has a wardrobe of hits that might even be more impactful than her discography. But does that make her fashion-forward? Is she a performance artist rather than a fashion icon, or is she still playing within 'legitimate' fashion's remit? The subtle "in" cliques and tribal behavior signaled through fashion is totally called into question in Gaga's art/self-expression. But at times (OK most of the time), it's super hard to distinguish between Gaga's latest look and the costume rack for Mugatu in Zoolander. Maybe that's what's great about fashion, and Gaga: they can be subversive and they're mercurial and contradictory, and they also have the power to make us think.

16 Spongebob Fur Pants

This one went too far. We know Gaga was probably making some kind of comment about the isolating effects of fame and the impositions of judgment on free speech with this paper bag alternative over her head. We know that. But raise your hand if you're still confused. The SpongeBob is not one that goes down in the annals of the outfits that Gaga has changed the course of history with because it's just too close to Zoolander's Mugatu for comfort. We like to have a sense of humor and enjoy being shocked by Gaga's playful fashion choices (she is Gaga after all), but this just lost us. Is it a waffle? Is Gaga taking style inspiration from a triceratops? Wondrous as the mask and THAT jacket combination is, this mask is only winning by making us smile. Which is a win, but also a fashion "what?" Sorry Gaga, but that toast head look is toast.

15 Country And Western

We feel like the dialed down look is a conscious fashion betrayal. Gaga's latest twist on her mercurial approach to fashion is to abstain from it entirely and seek solace in country and western style. As a counter-culture sitting so far outside of what's cool and fashionable that it's somehow always cool, we can dig it. But it's definitely fashion's greatest nemesis. When Olivier Rousteing and Karl Lagerfeld hear Dolly Parton, they melt like the Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. Even though we like this raw new Gaga, who seems to be embracing authenticity after pastiching pretty much every form of culture ever created, country just isn't fashion-forward. And we have to notice that it's a style that we never associated with Gaga AT ALL. In fact, country is just about as far from her New York city roots as it's possible to get, an irony that we're sure Gaga enjoys. But fashion suicide.

14 Suspenseful Style

With all the focus on those shoes, a different kind of wardrobe malfunction plagued Gaga in this challenging red ensemble. Fabulous as it was (and it was, undeniably that - all the elements of a supreme look are present), it says something about human nature than all we can focus on is Gaga's crotch area. If this was the intention, well then, mission accomplished. But somehow we don't think so. As outlandish as her fashion choices are, especially when they involve these kinds of shoes, Gaga's fashion is bound to fall down occasionally. This was, you might say, her Humpty Dumpty moment. Because although she navigated these shoes without breaking anything (cough *feet* in itself - sorry), this outfit still broke the camel's back. Proving that Gaga is still susceptible to the fashion pitfall most feared by women everywhere (namely, the dreaded cameltoe), this look must, unfortunately, be consigned to the fashion fail rack.

13 Rhinestone Judderman

via fansshare.com

Only the luckiest souls will have seen the amazing Metz schnapps advert about the Judderman, those who are privileged enough to have encountered this phenomenon will immediately recognize Gaga's overt reference to the weird advert here. Naturally, hers is a rhinestone version, because apparently, that's just better. Clearly a fashion faux-pas, and not just because of the excessive use of rhinestones. The meteor-like headdress work by Gaga comically obscured the view of the people sitting behind her at the industry event she rocked up to in this outfit. But we have to say we are impressed by the self-consciously mime-like makeup. The Judderman was a corruption of the Jedermann, or everyman, a 1920's German play about death coming to a rich man, who represents everyone. Based on Medieval plays that featured personifications of abstract forces like the devil, death, and the everyman, the Jederman concept seems like it was tailor-made for Gaga. Or, that could all be an elaborate misreading.

12 Sparkly Joy

Purely because Gaga seems to have been defeated by an outfit, at last, this one is a fail. We actually really enjoy the fact that she is unable to function while dressed as an exploding firework/star/sparkler though. The whole outfit is inflatable and is entirely magic. Frankly, we're looking forward to fashion catching up with Gaga here, and we can inflate ourselves some shoulder pads or a booty depending on our mood. Announcing your star status through the medium of dress has never been taken so literally. We love that Gaga, the mistress of ironic (and iconic while we're punning) dressing, has gone straight for the literal on this occasion. And the strangest thing is that, even though glittery fake plastic stars are heinous, we still love looking at this bizarre sea urchin of a dress and want to put it in our shiny box like the Victorian urchin child-magpie fusions we are. Can we borrow it for our next work progress review? But a fashion no.

11 Surreal Lobster

We kind of like the lobster reference to Salvador Dali here and any Cancer star sign among us will feel loved. But don't think you can distract us from the fact that you're wearing the Telephone outfit with a mere hat, Gaga, we're not that easily fooled. This was a look that sparked too many costume party knock-offs. We get that the famous Surrealist artist made a lobster telephone which Gaga is probably referencing here, but we still have no idea why Gaga has a lobster on her head. Admittedly, it is well angled and we like the fact that it creates glasses, which are in keeping with Gaga's general preferences. But also rhinestones are mainly just painful on the eyes and make us want to cry. Then again, nothing says "hysterical woman" better than a rhinestone lobster to the head, and we super love the deadly serious expressions on the faces of Gaga's bodyguards here, as she walks modestly through, attired in rhinestone lobster.

10 Franken-Fashion

A conscious betray. What is that heel, we wonder. Kinky and fetish wear is so anti-fashion it hurts, literally. We know that Gaga is on purpose tapping into this (sub)cultural scene, what else could those shoes say? But we have to say that this outfit is as tacky as it probably is in person, and makes us think of sweatiness and plastic bin liner bags. Admittedly latex fashion is increasingly a thing (especially this season), but Gaga wore it before it was cool. And at that point, it still wasn't cool. So we're putting this look in the "reject pile". Adding to this Gaga's do here, which is oh so Munster, and we've got a fairly anti-fashion statement. We need to know whether those heels move and light up, but otherwise, this look could have been achieved by any number of fetish wear enthusiasts. Latex lovers are laws unto themselves, nonconformists who definitely don't respond to anything called fashion, even if they were shocked by it on Frankenfurter Rocky Horror Show operating table. A horror show, this one.

9 Basic Black (With Spines)

It feels strange to say that this is a basic look. For anyone else, it would be pretty experimental. But Gaga in black feels restrained. Whilst she looks smoking hot, and we've never even dreamed this cutaway before, we prefer the fashion experiments in which Gaga is entirely transformed into a creature from a different world. We want to rock this one for sure. The strange spines on Gaga's choker and jacket are an amazing counterpoint to Gaga's vulnerable underbelly, which she's displaying here with all the defiance of a teenage boy mooning his classmates. But other than that, we feel like this look is less creative than Gaga's usual stratospherically inventive fashion choices. Is it fair of us to pan this look because it's on the same level as other celebrities? No. Are we going to pan it all the same? You betcha. Gaga has done better, on so many occasions. And as Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour has said, all black is so boring. We worship at the feet of Nuclear Wintour.

8 The Beetle Ball

Win. No arguments. This look is astronomically weird, but only Gaga could make it seem as though she were legitimately landing a mothership and stepping out as an actual alien. From the strange frogs on those impossible shoes to the beetle-like dress, to the carriage, this is exquisite. We're impressed Gaga can walk in those shoes, let alone rock this look. If you ever saw the movie Thumbelina, we think that this outfit is definitely referencing the evil beetle (imaginatively named Mr. Beetle). Stepping out of a futuristic carriage, Gaga has arrived directly from the Beetle Ball and the world of fairytales. For pulling that off, this HAS to be a fashion success. When we were little, we looked up to Disney princesses. Now little girls all over the land can look forward to their transformation into weird, beetle-like balloon creatures from another planet, with equal excitement. What a gift to self-expression.

7 Madge

This was a definite win, although we have to acknowledge that Madonna has a point when she says that Gaga sometimes rips her off. This is an entirely Madonna outfit, right down to the visible roots that Madge has been rocking rebelliously for a few years now. Still, Madge should be flattered that she is the inspiration for Gaga's voracious style transformations. And Gaga looked great in her icon armor. Which makes us wonder, is Gaga more of a performance artist than a pop star? Her impersonations of cultural icons are so direct that they almost put her in a separate category. We're not sure exactly which category, but we're content to say that Gaga's sparkly exoskeleton was a definite style success. With hints of McQueen-like grandeur and #BalmainArmy bodycon her look here was tried and tested and a little bit safe, but we loved watching the alien land on earth for at least one photoshoot.

6 Bowie

Gaga's Grammys 2016 look was a fitting tribute to the one, the only David Bowie. And on that basis, we're going to say that this was a fashion success. Even though the red hair makes our eyes hurt (and that's not an anti-ginger comment), that hair looks angry and we're afraid it's going to leap off Gaga's head and come for us like Snake's hairdo in The Simpsons. Also, we know that Bowie was the king of androgyny, and made it OK for men to express themselves much more freely. But this look has a definite drag vibe, and we're not sure whether that's intentional or just because women in too much makeup begin to look like drags terrifyingly fast. We've all been there on the too-much-makeup day. Alas! You realize too late via the Facebook pictures or mirror after you bumped into your crush that we're working the wrong kind of Ru Paul vibe. Still, we are stardust.

5 Geisha Shell

The seashell Marie Antoinette Geisha combination is one that we hadn't thought of. But Londoners were schooled in how to dress for rainy weather by the fashion goddess, who alighted to bestow her resplendency on the city's streets. The shell umbrella brought inner sunshine to all who saw it, and we are as transported by this outfit as we were by The Nutcracker when we saw that as kids. Like something out of an Opera, Gaga brought high drama to the city with some of the most daring street fashion in the world and pulled it off with an ease and elegance that would make you think she wasn't holding a gigantic shell over her head. All we know is life would be better if we all had shell umbrellas for when it rains. Then there would be no housing crises because we could all live like giant hermit crabs instead.

4 The Meat Dress: Mess or Impressed?

Ah the infamous meat dress. Frank Fernandez's creation started a media frenzy that propelled Gaga into the spotlight for her fashion choices. This was one of the earliest moments in which the world's eyes popped out of their sockets when we saw what Gaga was wearing. Discussed around the dinner table (topical) at family events around the world, everyone had an opinion on Gaga's meat dress. Like Friends, Game of Thrones and the first season of Big Brother, it was a cultural phenomenon that united us for a brief moment. Even the least fashion aware were very much aware of the meat dress. Whether you loved it or loved to hate it, you couldn't help but be interested in some way in the fashion statement. Many said it was a faux pas, but what's not to love about the dress that passed comment on the judgment surrounding what we wear in the first place. The clever Catch 22 was that the critics were playing into Gaga's hand. Masterful.

3 The Pope Judge

We love this outfit. While it's questionable fashion (it's erring dangerously close to the costume side of things), Gaga's judge outfit is also wonderfully papal, and we loved the accessorization with pink gloves and starry-eyed glasses. Was this a comment on the legal powers of the pope, or was Gaga just cold that day. We'll probably never know. But what was clear was that this outfit was comic gold (and literal gold), and it had us starry-eyed looking at it. We need one of these outfits for the next time we're feeling introverted, and we also want that wig so that we can take a mallet with us everywhere. We feel like this would help us to be more decisive. We also loved the fact that although she is almost entirely covered, this could clearly be no one but Gaga. Making unrecognizability her calling card and incognito ostentatious, this was another deft fashion move by the diva.

2 The Marilyn

Showing that she can dress well for once, in this outfit, Gaga slayed. In what was a brief respite from her usual intentionally alien attire, Gaga got a whole lot more lady than we're used to with this classic (and classy) full length fur. Paired with Hollywood blonde hair and white heels, Gaga's oversized fur saw her stepping into her fame and fortune with an unusual serenity. Ever subversive, though, the singer is wearing fur, which we hope is either vintage or faux, because otherwise, the vegans of the world will be rightly outraged. Gaga wore this outfit luxuriantly oversized, and looks a little swamped in it, like a child playing in her grandmother's closet. But we'll give this fashion devotee the benefit of the doubt and say that's intentional because something like hemline is so basic that we can't imagine Gaga would be caught dead in something the wrong length for her, although she has been caught in a dead thing in this photo.

1 The Mother Ship

Nailed. In a rare confluence of surrealism and prettiness, Gaga has chosen to play up her feminine features in a flattering way for once, while also expressing herself. We love that Gaga puts a dent in all the pretense and class struggles that fashion is beset by. We love that she consistently alienates herself from all the things that fame brings and stays humble despite her success. We love when she breaks the conventional boundaries of what women are allowed to do, and that she isn't afraid to look mad, be laughed at, or sacrifice everything to her self-expression. But still, we liked this look because it was less aggressive than her usual approach to dress up, and she rocked an otherworldliness while also slaying. This is the prom dress we wish we had, and Gaga is everything in it. Traditional and futuristic, the exaggerated feminine curves are flattering, while also keeping it intergalactic. We love you Gaga, you space alien from fashion's future you.