Lady Gaga’s strategy at the new H&M Times Square store, Lady Gaga declares on her new album, which has cover art by Jeff Koons.
LADY GAGA’S ARRIVAL on Wednesday night atop a pink Skyline sightseeing bus was cheeky, all right. Fanning out her waist-length hair and wearing a paint-streaked H&M cat suit, she worked the public like a flaxen Cleopatra waving from her barge.
The crowd at 42nd Street and Broadway, barely contained by battalions of security guards and surly celebrity handlers, surged forward at the stroke of 11 to catch a glimpse of the canny diva arriving at the new H&M flagship. Lady Gaga in the meantime was doing her subversive best to cash in on the furor.
“It’s such a coup d’état for us to be in such a corporate environment,” she said, referring both to herself and to the stacks of “Artpop,” her latest album, offered for sale throughout the store. “This is the first time that they’ve ever carried an album by a recording artist,” she said, exultant.
Clearly she regarded her appearance at the fast-fashion emporium as some sort of watershed, a collision of culture and consumerism. The album, and her drop-in, were intended, she explained, to evoke Andy Warhol: “He took something corporate, Campbell’s soup, and turned it into art.”
Her strategy, she added, sounding pleased with herself, is the reverse: to inject her wayward artistry into a staunchly corporate setting.
For a while it was unclear who stood to benefit more from the occasion, one that marked the debut of a much anticipated Isabel Marant and H&M collaboration. Would it be the store or Lady Gaga, whose album sales would likely receive a boost?
Indeed, until midnight, when H&M flung open its doors to a throng that had begun gathering as early as 5 p.m., the pop star was the draw, the promise of shopping a pale afterthought.
“I came out mostly for Lady Gaga,” said Nicole Scola, 25, who had left her office at a film distribution company in time to score a silver early admission ticket. “I’m still in shock.” Ms. Scola, who had dressed for the festivities in a turquoise wig and dolly bow, was scarcely able to check her giggles. “I thought I’d catch a glimpse of her,” she said. “I never thought I’d talk to her.”
Mathew McGrath, 19, a theater student at the Tisch School of the Arts at N.Y.U., had painted his face in homage to his idol in garish tints of slate and ocher. “I’m not here to shop at all,” he said.
After more than an hour, the celebrity fever subsided, and visitors, young or not-so-young, began mobbing the racks of $7 sweaters and $35 jeans, clutching garments by the armload and, fitting rooms be damned, layering them on in front of any available mirror.
The label addicts among them turned a blind eye as Lady Gaga strolled the store in nine-inch platforms, lining up instead behind the barricades at the Marant store-within-the-store, awaiting their allotted 15 minutes of speed-shopping, which started at 1 a.m.
Gretta Safonova, 21, an architecture student, had been stalking some items online for weeks. She had her eye on the designer’s popular fringed boots and lace-up pants, and maybe a loopy salt-and-pepper sweater. She expected to spend about $300, she said, then caught herself sheepishly. by nevel
The crowd at 42nd Street and Broadway, barely contained by battalions of security guards and surly celebrity handlers, surged forward at the stroke of 11 to catch a glimpse of the canny diva arriving at the new H&M flagship. Lady Gaga in the meantime was doing her subversive best to cash in on the furor.
“It’s such a coup d’état for us to be in such a corporate environment,” she said, referring both to herself and to the stacks of “Artpop,” her latest album, offered for sale throughout the store. “This is the first time that they’ve ever carried an album by a recording artist,” she said, exultant.
Clearly she regarded her appearance at the fast-fashion emporium as some sort of watershed, a collision of culture and consumerism. The album, and her drop-in, were intended, she explained, to evoke Andy Warhol: “He took something corporate, Campbell’s soup, and turned it into art.”
Her strategy, she added, sounding pleased with herself, is the reverse: to inject her wayward artistry into a staunchly corporate setting.
For a while it was unclear who stood to benefit more from the occasion, one that marked the debut of a much anticipated Isabel Marant and H&M collaboration. Would it be the store or Lady Gaga, whose album sales would likely receive a boost?
Indeed, until midnight, when H&M flung open its doors to a throng that had begun gathering as early as 5 p.m., the pop star was the draw, the promise of shopping a pale afterthought.
“I came out mostly for Lady Gaga,” said Nicole Scola, 25, who had left her office at a film distribution company in time to score a silver early admission ticket. “I’m still in shock.” Ms. Scola, who had dressed for the festivities in a turquoise wig and dolly bow, was scarcely able to check her giggles. “I thought I’d catch a glimpse of her,” she said. “I never thought I’d talk to her.”
Mathew McGrath, 19, a theater student at the Tisch School of the Arts at N.Y.U., had painted his face in homage to his idol in garish tints of slate and ocher. “I’m not here to shop at all,” he said.
After more than an hour, the celebrity fever subsided, and visitors, young or not-so-young, began mobbing the racks of $7 sweaters and $35 jeans, clutching garments by the armload and, fitting rooms be damned, layering them on in front of any available mirror.
The label addicts among them turned a blind eye as Lady Gaga strolled the store in nine-inch platforms, lining up instead behind the barricades at the Marant store-within-the-store, awaiting their allotted 15 minutes of speed-shopping, which started at 1 a.m.
Gretta Safonova, 21, an architecture student, had been stalking some items online for weeks. She had her eye on the designer’s popular fringed boots and lace-up pants, and maybe a loopy salt-and-pepper sweater. She expected to spend about $300, she said, then caught herself sheepishly. by nevel
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