VMA Awards

After a bleak year of cancelled Fashion Week’s and minimal style exposure due to the leisurewear scattered among the streets on our daily lockdown walk, the VMA awards this week was somewhat…nostalgic. A breath of fresh, minty air swept across our Instagram feeds with bold colours, raunchy numbers and politically affiliated stances.

Whilst it was apparent many had lost their stylish flair from perhaps a lengthy stay in lockdown, I was nontheless pumped that a return to normality was rising to the surface.

One of this years breakout stars, Doja Cat, channeled a “rainbow alien” ensemble for her performance and once again took over the internet. Asher Levine and Brett Nelson had just 5 weeks to create a custom, diamond encrusted catsuit, along with a number of battery packs to allow the rainbow alien vision come to life onstage.

And then there’s Lady Gaga. She has now made social distancing couture a thing, arriving on the red carpet with a fishbowl mask, with a further 8 or 9 (??) mask changes throughout the evening. But she has a free pass to shake it up year in, year out. Upon winning awards for best artist, song, collaboration and cinematography and MTV’s first Tricon award (for music, acting and fashion), Gaga concluded that "just because we're separated right now and culture may feel less alive in some ways, I know a renaissance is coming”. Well, I hope so too.

Given the resurrection of the BLM movement that has again swept the United States, it allowed a further platform for artists to propel the cause. The Weeknd wore makeup that resembled his face being beaten, and used his winning speech to declare that “it’s hard to celebrate, so I’m just going to say justice for Jacob Blake and justice for Breonna Taylor“. A performance by DaBaby echoed this call for justice as he performed his song Blind handcuffed in the back of a police car as a reference to the ongoing protests against police brutality.

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards have therefore been a platform for artists to spread awareness for the various social justice issues gripping America and as an artistic mode of promoting the use of face masks during the pandemic.

As this may have arguably been one of the most important VMA awards ceremonies, it is only fair to also pay an ode to the previous years, along with the outlandish ensembles that have come with it due to its celebration of creativity. Who could forget the time that Lady Gaga arrived in a dress made entirely of raw meat, or when Madonna popped out of a cake to pash Britney Spears. Or when Britney performed “I’m A Slave 4 U” with a giant yellow python, or Gaga appearing in her first VMA performance draped in fake blood. I’m seeing a Gaga and Britney theme here?

Then there’s the ahem, fashion. Miley turned heads in 2013 with her new pixie haircut, barely-there shorts and excessive tongue poking which became her signature ‘look’ for years to follow. Most notably, Lil Kim has come through with some of the most provocative looks (because well, she can), Marilyn Manson has brought the Gothic aura and Destiny’s Child gave us the co-ords. And I am here for it all.

So, after this bout of nostalgia, I am basically just here to say that the MTV VMA’s provide us with the outrageous, and the visual escape we all need from the regular lockdown press conferences gripping our televisions.