What I like about this is exactly that: she’s savouring the moment. Wouldn’t you? That’s what’s so maddeningly tricky about Hollywood. I mean, sure, they all like to blame outrage culture and the Twitter police but it’s not like there aren’t vipers within the industry itself. It’s why Oscar campaigns have to be calibrated so carefully: you can’t be too thirsty, you can’t be too nonchalant, you can’t enjoy it too much, you can’t seem ungrateful. Twitter isn’t the one voting on the Oscars. They themselves, their colleagues and their peers, are voting on it. They’re the ones judging.
But the truth is, this is something they all want so badly. When it finally happens, it’s understandable to want to preen a little bit, isn’t it? Gaga is preening. And savouring it. F-ck I would too.
What she isn’t doing, interestingly, is posing a lot with Bradley Cooper (who’s looking better and better by the day). I don’t see a lot of shots – any, actually – of her with Bradley Cooper at the luncheon. That might just be because they were hanging out with other nominees, getting to know each other. But the gossip in me wonders whether or not the reaction from the Vegas performance, when he joined her onstage to sing “Shallow”, as she knelt at his feet and wept, was reconsidered, whether or not there was a conversation about it. In my own circles, some of the people I spend time with who’ve been watching the ASIB campaign throughout the season, were like, is this too much? Some of you have emailed me to ask if it was too much.
I LOVED Gaga in A Star is Born. It’s not my favourite movie of 2018 but she is my favourite part in the movie. She made the movie for me. She is what I was drawn to most about the movie every time I saw it (three). I get that she wants to acknowledge that Bradley Cooper was an important part of her success (if there are 100 people in a room…) but she too was responsible for her own great work and I don’t know if we’ve gotten a lot of that messaging.
Which is why I enjoyed this Gaga moment at the luncheon. Gaga was enjoying the moment, Gaga was enjoying Gaga. In what Vogue says is a white bespoke Louis Vuitton – gorgeous, perfect for the occasion, and very much in the spirit of what she’s been wearing through award season since January. Light colours, soft shapes, nothing like what we usually get from her at, say, the Grammys. This is her “movie star” aesthetic. Interestingly, the Grammys are on Sunday. She’s nominated for a Grammy. She’s also nominated for two BAFTAs and they’re happening on the same day. What will she wear to the BAFTAs?
So far, it was Valentino at the Golden Globes, Calvin Klein at Critics’ Choice, Dior at the SAGs, right off the runway, and bespoke LV “with painstakingly discreet detailing that her team commissioned for the Oscars nominees’ luncheon”. She’s the one everyone wants to dress this year. If only there was a documentary about this, about the negotiations happening around her Oscar dress, the most important one of the entire season. About who was contacted, or who contacted Gaga and company. And/or how many options they’ll be. And/or whether or not there are options at all. I feel like Gaga’s a “one” girl. Like it’s going to be one of a kind, it’s going to be one plan from start to finish, no others in the running. Agree or disagree?