Gaga for the Lady

You must have a favorite Madonna persona. Wow ... hmm. Erotica. I loved her in the
latex with the black lips and all that. It’s defiant,
you know? Most remember sort of remember Madonna most
famously for the Like a Virgin bridal gown.
That’s a bit more traditional in my eyes.
There’s something about the erotic look that was
so inappropriate, so unsuitable for television. Even at,
like, 3 a.m.

If you had to role play, would you be more like the
"straight" rocker David Bowie or the "gay" David
Bowie, flanked by an amorous Mick Jagger? Hello! Gay, gay, gay! Did you even have to ask?
Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay! Yes! With Jagger on the side.

How do the spectacles of your show come together?
And how did your famous prop "the disco stick" come to be? The disco stick has gone through many a
metamorphosis. Originally it was going to be a cane.
Then we started to talk about the club shows and the
fact that I was going to be moving around, you know, from
country to city to city all the time -- and without a
tour bus for the first part of my tour. So I started
to think about ways that we could have a
self-contained show that was still really powerful and felt
like you were watching an artist who’s been
around for 10 years.

So we started
playing with ideas about light and fashion and how we could
incorporate them into the show. And so the disco stick
became a light-up invention. And from that came the
glasses, and then I came up with the LCD-screen
glasses and iPod glasses. For me, the philosophy was
"trash sophisticated." It was "How do I create a show, a
traveling show, a circus that still feels like they got in
everything?" And then we throw in a microphone plugged into
an amp. Something I can travel with, something
that’s beautiful, something that has strong
imagery that doesn't require a staff of 50 and 80 trucks.
So, you know, for me, it was just wrapping my head
around stuff.

From a fashion
perspective it's incorporating technology into the work.
It's putting stage design into the clothing.

What’s your biggest fashion must? I love my sunglasses. They're just great because
no matter what you freaking have on, if your
hair’s messed up and you've got no makeup on,
just pop those puppies on and you're good.