Music
Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' featured outfits designed by Alexander McQueen. Here's what the singer said about this original production and the inspiration behind it.
Published on April 18, 2022
2 min readLady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” tells the story of a relationship gone wrong, with the music video matching its somewhat creepy lyrics. With outfits designed by Alexander McQueen, Lady Gaga described this production as a fashion ad that’s “slightly moving by bizarre.”
Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ and its meaning
She wants horror and revenge. According to Song Meanings and Facts, “Bad Romance” details a toxic relationship and the bad decisions that come with it. Its creepy and unique theme is echoed in the music video, which featured Lady Gaga in some original Alexander McQueen clothes.
Lady Gaga wore Alexander McQueen for the ‘Bad Romance’ music video
Posted in 2009, this official music video earned over a billion views, with Gaga even snagging the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. That was primarily thanks to the singer’s relationship with Alexander McQueen, with Gaga reportedly sending an early version of her song to the designer.
Subsequently, McQueen sent over an original collection for Gaga to showcase. That included armadillo boots and almost “grotesque” silhouettes that differed strongly from other pop artists and their fashion choices.
“I was really excited to make the opening scene [of the video] a fashion ad that was slightly moving but bizarre,” she said in a 2015 interview, according to i-d. “Alexander McQueen had sent us all his clothes from ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ [his final runway show], and they were all so beautiful. We couldn’t believe that he’d sent them to us, so that was also a very strong dictator in this video.”
This wouldn’t be the first (or the time) Lady Gaga made waves with her fashion. She stunned with her meat dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, later showcasing “camp” at the Met Gala. Even the RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9 premiere was themed to Lady Gaga and her best-known outfits.
Lady Gaga shared the meaning behind ‘Bad Romance’
Surrounded by dancers, Gaga emerged from the “Bath Haus of Gaga” in this official music video. She even sported a jewel-covered crown and her iconic “mother monster” hand choreography. This video even emphasizes the meaning of the “Bad Romance” lyrics.
“I wanted to look like a drugged-out, a sort of sick little doll […] they just drugged me to bring me into all of these men who were gonna try [to] sell me off for a lot of money, which is basically how my whole life felt until that point,” Gaga said, according to the same i-d article. “[By the end of the video] I’m really powerful, and I’m saying, ‘You know, go ahead and buy me, go ahead and pay for me, and you’ve no idea what I’m gonna do for you after this happens.’”
As one of Lady Gaga’s most iconic songs, this artist performed “Bad Romance” during her Super Bowl Halftime Show. Recently, she released Chromatica and Dawn of Chromatica.
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