Last week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America announced that it will give Lady Gaga the Fashion Icon award at its annual ceremony, which is the fashion world’s equivalent of the Oscars.
The move was a final, official endorsement, of sorts, on the moment pop culture fashion seems to be in — that moment being a radically wild, crazy and, frankly, more interesting one. A new, foolproof formula has replaced the add-honey-colored-hair-extensions-shiny-dress-and-stir equation that worked so well for Britney Spears, Beyonce and Rihanna in their early days. But even Beyonce and Rihanna have gone to the Gaga side. We look at the transformation of some of your favorite divas.
Lady Gaga
»Before: A blah red look pre-Nicola Formichetti, the stylist who helped make her famous by dressing her in McQueen and, well, meat.
» After: Wonderfully weird in that Gaga way we’ve all come to love.
Nicki Minaj
» Before: Haven’t we seen this little black dress before?
»After: The Bride of Frankenstein meets Givenchy.
Rihanna
»Before: The old weave-alicious formula that became standard in the R&B and pop world.
» After: RiRi’s much more interesting, wild style.
Katy Perry
»Before: Safe and boring in pastel satin.
» After: The kind of showy getup husband Russell Brand can’t get enough of.
Ke$ha
»Before: Then relatively unknown, the singer in an imitation of the same glam, rock look we’ve seen a hundred times.
» After: Strange? Yup. More famous? Yup.
