February 28, 2020 |
Before you carry on reading, have you listened to Stupid Love yet? Today is a day of celebration as Lady Gaga takes her rightful place back on the electro-pop throne with a certified bop of a comeback single that will undoubtedly be blasted across gay bars all weekend, month or maybe even year long. Despite the single leaking online a few weeks back, the track has been given a whole new lease of life with its otherworldly music video – surprisingly, all shot on an iPhone. Always one to serve a lewk, Gaga and her clan of pink-hued warriors look like if Heaven’s basement room was blasted into an intergalactic dimension. Angel-winged harnesses, fishnet gloves and a whole load of headwear (paisley bandanas, ski-goggles and bucket hat galore), you can practically smell the poppers through the screen. Gaga herself, sugary pink locks and forehead adorned with heart-shaped gems, is giving us 1990s Gwen Stefani on the red carpet during her No Doubt days. When paired with the retro graphics throughout, Stupid Love seems like a retro-futuristic idea of what outer space would look like. If you watched the early noughties post-apocalyptic series The Tribe, it’s kind of like that – just even gayer. In honour of this blast to the past (and to the future), we’ve picked just a handful of the outlandish style tribes we’re ready to come back next. You never know, Gaga’s new album is yet to be announced…
Health Goth
How does one sport the latest Adidas fashions whilst simultaneously letting the world know that you’re in the top 1% of Yung Lean listeners on Spotify? By uniting your love of hi-performance sportswear with your edgy side, of course. Flashback to 2014 and you couldn’t escape Health Goths. They weren’t prowling your local gyms listening to Slipknot. Instead, they were moodily stomping down the catwalk – dressed head-to-toe in Jeremy Scott, Nasir Mazhar and Hood by Air. The trend saw the marriage of easily available sportswear staples, like Adidas leggings and Nike caps, with luxury brash additions – often laden in chains and adorned with gothic fonts. Rihanna even jumped on the bandwagon, dedicating her debut Fenty x Puma collection to comfort, ease and all things black. Where are the Health Goths now? Probably aisle six in Whole Foods, looking for anything with charcoal in.
Seapunk
Another online trend Rihanna has dipped her toe into, 2012 saw Seapunk turn from a Twitter meme into some of the world’s biggest pop stars go-to aesthetic. It was a moment in pop history where teal hair and face gems were of the range. Gaga did it circa Artpop, Azealia Banks did it and of course, Rihanna did – on SNL with a live performance of Diamonds. Seapunk trapped this idealistic, aquatic landscape inside the vaporwave. It’s a virtual world were technicoloured dolphins fly through the sky, 3D smiley faces and money symbols pop up from nowhere and the floor isnt lava, but an endless digital ocean. The Guardian and The New York Times have aimed to crack whether this was a serious online subculture or some sort of inside joke. But what we really want to know is, does climate change exist inside the vaporwave?
Witch House
The slightly sinister cousin to Health Goth, Witch House was for the girls and boys who preferred Crystal Castles to Yung Lean, or Crim3s to Kanye. A spellbinding genre that took dance music on a dark, twisted turn – Witch House had a whole army of elegants trying their best to look like Alice Glass. Bleached eyebrows with harsh fringes were a must, as was anything black – whether it was school girl dresses or slouched bomber jackets. Top it off with a cigarette addiction and a taste for Jack Daniels, and you’ve cracked the witchy look.
Steam Punk
Spotting a Steam Punker is as rare as seeing Big Foot these days. You usually have to go to Boomtown festival at the tail end of summer to catch a rare glimpse. To an ear-splitting soundtrack of wobbly bass-lines and jaw-aching D’N’B, a flock will skank their hearts away in psychedelic goggles, their heads adorned with top hats and their bodies clad Victorian fashions in retro-futuristic cuts. Who would’ve thought DJ Hazard’s Mr Happy would have such a time-traveling appeal?
Cybergoth
We have a lot to thank Cybergoths for. They keep Cyberdog in business, they make sure Camden stays weird and they provide a lot of laughs with their horrendous dancing. There’s a lot of questions when it comes to the Cybergoth style: why the gas masks? Why the zebra-striped hair extensions? Who’s idea was it for furry leg warmers to be mandatory uniform? Maybe its best we leave the Cybergoths in Camden….
