Naked on Purpose

Lady Gaga taking her clothes off was never really about the body—or at least that was always the argument, and I mostly believe it. The nudity was a costume in the same way everything else was a costume, which meant it carried the same calculated weight as a Versace headpiece or a meat dress. By 2012 she had turned provocation into something almost formal, a methodology, and the nakedness fit right in: carefully lit, artfully deployed, daring you to look while insisting you think about why you’re looking. Whether that constitutes depth or very sophisticated deflection depends on the day.