Why Antonio Berardi turned down Lady Gaga to design her fashion label

[LolaSvelt]

Yes she is an attention seeker, but I always got the feeling that was her intention, to show how easily attainable fame can be these days and how easily people can be sucked into the life of celebrity.

Maybe I'm looking way too much into it, but I was always thought that.

 

[Spike413]

^ I'm actually in the same boat. I'm not entertaining delusions that she's some lyrical prodigy that rivals Bob Dylan, but I think some of her music is deeper than most are willing to give her credit for. TBH I've always thought that a song like Paparazzi is actually pretty cynical beneath the dance-pop beat and catchy hook. I think a lot of people take the songs at face value, but the stuff she sings about definitely isn't typical of most female pop stars...or pop in general for that matter.

And at the end of the day I stand by my view that in order to be a judge of someone else's meaning/lack thereof, you need to be considered meaningful by someone other than yourself. That's the fatal flaw in Antonio's holier-than-thou preaching.

 

[KhaoticKharma]

I personally view Lady Gaga as the Andy Warhol of music; totally capable of being a talented and serious "artist," but much happier taking a tongue in cheek approach to plastic celebrity. And while some of her music has much more substance than the credit it is given (namely "Paparazzi"), I fail to see what's so wrong with creating a fun dance song that makes someone happy for three and a half minutes.

I just don't think he approached his initial statement the right way though. He came off kind of rude in my opinion.

ETA: While I do think it's too early for Gaga to sink her teeth into fashion, why should would even want to work with Berardi is beyond me; I would assume she would either want to work with someone really accessible (H&M, Target, Uniqlo) or really high profile. Berardi is just kind of... there.

 

[honeycombchild]

I'm not sure this story has actually been posted in this thread yet;

ANTONIO BERARDI would like to set the record straight.

Following various misquotations in the press recently regarding his sartorial relationship with Lady Gaga, the designer told VOGUE.COM: "Press coverage has appeared recently about comments I supposedly made about Lady Gaga. I have been seriously misquoted in these comments. I am always thrilled when anyone chooses to wear my clothes and I thought that Lady Gaga looked amazing in her video wearing my parachute dress."
Berardi, who returned to the capital as part of the London Fashion Week 25th anniversary celebrations this season, continued: "Whilst musically I am more of a Black Angels man, I have a huge amount of respect for Lady Gaga and everything she has achieved. Creating a fashion collection is a lot of work and I was unable to collaborate with Lady Gaga on a collection because of commitments to my own label and for no other reason."

From Vogue.com

I don't find her music to be meaningless at all. I know the lyric about the "disco stick" was singled out earlier in this thread, but really, come on. There's many, many other lyrics that do mean something. The song "Speechless" for example is lyrically really strong. So are tracks like "Paparazzi"..

I like her. I like that she's brought the show back to music, she's brought the fantasy back at a time when I think many artists were getting comfortable doing the same old..

 

[Leeroi]

^Yeah, a similar article was posted, but a lot of people looking in this thread just read the first page and start defending or opposing Berardi without thinking that he has retracted his statements a few days after making them.

 

[reese06]

And just as I've singled out the "disco stick" lyric, people are trying to single out her more meaningful lyrics but a majority of the songs on her album(s) are meaningless dance fillers that don't push music forward.

 

[honeycombchild]

Don't push music forward? Did you sleep through 2009...? She's pushed music forward, perhaps mostly in the way she's made everyone else up their game, try harder, visually and in other ways. When so many albums contain fillers, and only a few single worthy tracks, she produced two albums where there's hardly any filler what so ever.

In your opinion the majority of the songs on her albums are "meaningless dance fillers". Music is just as subjective as everything else, what you find to be totally "meaningless" other people find to be brilliant.

Music connects with everybody differently, and so I wouldn't personally feel I could so freely dismiss someone's music as you do. I've never cared for Elvis, but many people do, many people connect with his music, just because I don't get it, or find it to be groundbreaking, doesn't mean it is actually those things.

Each to their own.

 

[Scott]

I like her. I like that she's brought the show back to music, she's brought the fantasy back at a time when I think many artists were getting comfortable doing the same old..

you say that but hasn't goldfrapp been doing that for years now? moloko and roisin solo alike? long before gaga was even a NYC club fixture. i don't really understand this 'saviour' attitude about her. she's doing nothing new that other artists haven't already accomplished. the only difference is that she somehow has this big marketing and publicity machine behind her.

 

[Filipe]

Music is just as subjective as everything else, what you find to be totally "meaningless" other people find to be brilliant.

Of course, people that don't understand music will find her music brilliant, that's for sure.

 

[Littleathquakes]

Of course, people that don't understand music will find her music brilliant, that's for sure.

And that leads us back to the issue of subjectivity...what authority exists so that one can deem what type/genre of music as "understandable" and by whom?

 

[Thanatos]

Don't push music forward? Did you sleep through 2009...? She's pushed music forward, perhaps mostly in the way she's made everyone else up their game, try harder, visually and in other ways. When so many albums contain fillers, and only a few single worthy tracks, she produced two albums where there's hardly any filler what so ever.

In your opinion the majority of the songs on her albums are "meaningless dance fillers". Music is just as subjective as everything else, what you find to be totally "meaningless" other people find to be brilliant.

Music connects with everybody differently, and so I wouldn't personally feel I could so freely dismiss someone's music as you do. I've never cared for Elvis, but many people do, many people connect with his music, just because I don't get it, or find it to be groundbreaking, doesn't mean it is actually those things.

Each to their own.

Some people think Miley Cyrus is the best thing in music and that Twilight is the best film ever made. Yes opinion means something, but some things just are, you know that.

I agree with Scott. There are tons of artists doing what Lady Gaga is doing and they are doing it better and with more class. I am fine if people love her, but people are kidding themselves if for one second they do so because they think she is original and a revelation to fashion and music which she so is not. I feel the same about people who think she doesn't care what people think about her and those who admire her eccentric behavior in interviews.

I wonder what Antonio actually said which was "seriously misquoted"

 

[Salvatore]

I wonder what Antonio actually said which was "seriously misquoted"

I think he was retracting his statement about callering her and her music meaningless. Unless he said something else ... ?

I don't think Lady GaGa pushed the music industry forward as much as she just pushed it. Yes, she is in-your-face with fashion and her gimmicks like no other in the mainstream pop genre, but let's be honest with ourselves ... she is no revolutionary by any means that many are trying to make her out to be. Coming from a stand-point of someone currently in the music industry, she (nor her producers) has not really developed a sound that is that new. There was a mash-up of the top 25 pop songs in the US and Lady GaGa of course is in there, but it all sounds alike:

http://hypem.com/track/997713/DJ+Ea...e+Top+25+Hits+of+2009+according+to+Billboard+

Really sad actually when you think how all of it sounds alike .....

 

[reese06]

Don't push music forward? Did you sleep through 2009...? She's pushed music forward, perhaps mostly in the way she's made everyone else up their game, try harder, visually and in other ways. When so many albums contain fillers, and only a few single worthy tracks, she produced two albums where there's hardly any filler what so ever.

In your opinion the majority of the songs on her albums are "meaningless dance fillers". Music is just as subjective as everything else, what you find to be totally "meaningless" other people find to be brilliant.

Music connects with everybody differently, and so I wouldn't personally feel I could so freely dismiss someone's music as you do. I've never cared for Elvis, but many people do, many people connect with his music, just because I don't get it, or find it to be groundbreaking, doesn't mean it is actually those things.

Each to their own.

Was she popular? Yes but that has nothing to do with her actual sound as an artist. There's nothing new or experimental about her music. She had 4 actual hits from her album out of 12 songs. That's pretty much the standard for most pop albums and the rest would be considered fillers. If they thought the other songs were going to be hits, they surely would have released them.

 

[Leeroi]

Was she popular? Yes but that has nothing to do with her actual sound as an artist. There's nothing new or experimental about her music. She had 4 actual hits from her album out of 12 songs. That's pretty much the standard for most pop albums and the rest would be considered fillers. If they thought the other songs were going to be hits, they surely would have released them.

It takes a lot of money to release and promote a single. She would have been promoting one song a month and creating tens of videos if she was to promote each and every song in her album. Even Mariah Carey, Madonna, and Whitney Houston would never do that. Madonna, the most successful female artist of all time, has she ever released and made a single of all songs she released? Cause if she did, then she would have had hundreds of number ones.

Believe it or not, 4 number ones from one album is a great feat when most artists can barely make a number one from a few albums.

I think this issue of her can be correlated with how people view fashion. So many people in fashion think everyone who isn't part of the industry are complete lame ducks. And how people view Galliano and Lagerfeld as some type of geniuses when designers before them have already done what they are doing. Puhh-leeeaasssseee.

Someone tell me, has Berardi ever put something on the fashion table that gives him the right to call someone else's work meaningless? I'm sorry, but I feel more comfortable defending someone who has been ostracized unfairly and without subjectivity than defending someone who is criticizing.

Like I said, because it's Lady Gaga and a lot of fashion people hate non-fashion people coming in the industry, they'll automatically have some reserved dislike for them. You see it all the time, look at Beckham and how much crap people say about her fashion line.

 

[Spike413]

Ok folks, as much as I think that this discussion has brought about some valid points from both sides, the conversation is beginning to veer a bit off topic. I'm just going to ask that we all try to refocus on the Gaga/Berardi story, and not as much on our opinions of her as a musician.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Squizree]

It's hard to like Lady Gaga. And I don't blame Berardi for feeling so strongly about her, she can definitely come off as the over-hyped attention wh*re. But Berardi isn't exactly anyone to be judging someone's music. Neither is he the most groundbreaking fashion designer either - but this is a different topic altogether.

The other thing, it's funny that some people have mentioned Bjork. If Bjork used her lyrics in poppy, money generating music for the masses everyone would hate her too. One of the main reasons why people (including Berardi probably) is because she's very famous. But it's all very ironic because Lady Gaga is ALWAYS singing about people's obsession with fame and how fame is like poison.

And people need to get over the whole "disco stick" thing. It was one line - big deal.

 

[pmplmus617]

There's some irony in him refusing Lady Gaga on grounds of meaningfulness and longevity and yet being happy to have Megan Fox as a client...

thought the exact same thing