Can We Talk about Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Costumes?

I am an anomaly in Texas in such a way that I do not care about football—especially professional football. So I did not watch Super Bowl LI Sunday night, nor did I miss it. I knew that there would be ample listicles providing all the commercials worth seeing and various YouTube syndications of the halftime show on Monday morning. Observing the chatter online about the Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Bowl LI Halftime Show in particular, I notice plenty of speculation over the political nature of Lady Gaga’s show, but not nearly enough on the implications of her costume choices.

Did Gaga’s outfit look… familiar?

No? What about this one What exactly do they have in common? What do they remind you of?

Let me refresh your memory. We go back to the year 2008. It was a simpler time ruled by American Apparel basics, bad Joker impressions and the iPhone 3G. That year, a newcomer bursted onto the pop music scene—a young New Yorker calling herself Lady Gaga, and she seriouslyneverworepants.

I remember having no idea who Lady Gaga was or why she was relevant until she put Alexander Skaarsgård in a video. Before that, the only thing I knew about this woman was that she had an aversion to pants most do not have. To me, Gaga was synonymous with pantslessness. When she began to redefine her look years later, it never felt the same. Sunday night, Gaga didn’t give us too much of the sentimental Joanne or any of the self-indulgent Artpop—last night she delivered Classic Gaga, the fashion weirdo the world fell in love with in all her pantsless glory. It was a return to form with her, one that her career sorely needs. Here’s hoping we see more of this—and less pants—from Mother Monster.