Doja Cat is undergoing a transformation. After her somewhat shocking announcement on Twitter last night which revealed that her past two albums, ‘Hot Pink’ and ‘Planet Her’, were both “cash-grabs”, it seems Doja’s planning to rise from the ashes of her “past career” in a new form. The reveal might seem to have come out of nowhere, but a closer look at Doja Cat’s style progression over the past few months reveals she’s been hinting at a rebrand for some time.
Up until recently, Doja Cat’s aesthetic – both in her music and style – has pulled on conventionally soft, sexy, and feminine cues. The look from her Global Citizen Live performance in Paris 2021 is the perfect example of this, featuring draped silk and nude fabrics with diamante detailing to create a sexy, distressed ensemble. However, in the last few months she’s taken an active step away from the style we know her for, ditching hot pinks and strappy bralettes for an aesthetic widely known as “anti-fashion”.
Perhaps one of Doja Cat’s first public appearances in her new “anti-fashion” style was during Paris Fashion Week this January at Schiaparelli’s couture show, where she arrived dressed head-to-toe in glittering red diamonds. Whilst the look was undeniably beautiful, it also raised plenty of eyebrows with fans on social media relating it to “a blood clot” and “Dante’s inferno”.
It seems one of the biggest hang-ups people had over Doja’s all-red ensemble was the fact that, after sitting the makeup chair for over 4-hours being adorned with 30,000 Swarovski crystals by Pat McGrath herself, she didn’t have time to apply any falsies. This ended up being the inspiration for Doja’s next public appearance at Victor and Rolf’s show two days later, where she stuck two false eyelashes to her upper lip in the style of a thin moustache.
The publicity of these two looks, combined with Doja Cat changing her profile picture on TikTok to an image people claimed was “Satanic” and her more recent ode to Karl Lagerfeld’s Choupette at The MET Gala, led to an onslaught of comments that Doja Cat’s style had truly flopped, and her move away from a conventionally attractive, feminine look was simply a sign she was losing it. Well, they were wrong. What Doja’s new look is actually feeding into is the concept of “anti-fashion”.
“Anti-fashion” is a term used to describe styles which actively break away or contradict the fashion norm of the time. For example, some designers who’ve been acclaimed for their “anti-fashion” styles include Vivienne Westwood, Rei Kawakubo, and Yoji Yamamoto. Therefore, Doja Cat’s adoption of an “anti-fashion” aesthetic at the start of this year was perhaps our first indication that her pandering to the public’s interests, both through her style and now her music, is over.
Both her “cash-grabbing” music style and her trend-following looks are being replaced with new versions which subvert what her fans seem to want, instead encapsulating what she wants out of her career. After five long years of fitting into the archetypal “pop star” cookie cutter, it’s no wonder she’s ready to reclaim her image. Without a doubt, her Tweets from last night are the final nail in the Old Doja Cat’s coffin. All we can say is, long live the new Doja Cat.
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