The History of Controversial Women is always compelling from Eve in the Garden of Eden to Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. This week I’ve added Lady Gaga to my roster of controversial modern celebrity bad girls so let’s explore her USP’s and the brand she has created.

Bad Girl USP – Gender Exploration | Outrageous Fashion | Army Leader | Theatrical

Famous Quotes: ‘Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember your career will never wake up in the morning and tell you it doesn’t love you anymore.’ Lady Gaga, Cosmopolitan, 2010.

‘I had a boyfriend who told me I’d never succeed, never be nominated for a Grammy, never have a hit song and that he hoped I’d fail. I said to him ‘someday when we’re not together, you won’t even be able to order a cup of coffee at the f**king deli without hearing or seeing me?’ Lady Gaga, Cosmopolitan, 2010.

What’s in a name? A lot it would seem as Lady Gaga was certainly not born this way, her real life name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta and if you’ve seen pictures of her before she was famous you’ll also know she is a natural brunette who looked a little like Amy Winehouse. Now she is a chart topper the world over with legions of fans called Little Monsters, her very own army with Twitter numbers in excess of 40 million and a social media strategy which has been studied by the Pentagon. And she doesn’t just push the boundaries of what is acceptable in fashion, she annihilates them. In short, she’s worn meat dresses, Kermit the frog, telephones on her head, giant hats, enormous shoes, wigs, oversize bows and bonkers necklaces. She almost goes so far that the shock value isn’t there anymore so she has to go further and further every time.

Pushing the social boundaries, she explores gender and sexuality in most of her videos with Telephone seeing her stripped to a pair of fishnet tights by two guards but the area is pixalated to further force the audience to question what they are seeing and judging. In recent months she has hit more controversy than normal with the leaked footage of her ‘Do What You Want With My body’ video where appears to encourage rape alongside R. Kelly as a predatory doctor and shot by the questionable Terry Richardson. Her background and her controversial activities are so frequent and varied it’s hard to sum her up in a couple of paragraphs, but her music success is undeniable, and her antics on stage seem to be designed to please only herself. Her persona is extremely stage managed, so there’s one thing for sure, you’re unlikely to see her popping to the shops to buy a pint of milk in a pair of jeans and a tee. The world is her stage.