It affects politics, it affects humanity, because politics affects humanity. This is how I look when I'm with actors, singers. This is how I look when I'm with filmmakers. This is how I look when I'm with my friends who are musicians. This is me offering my cultural self to you. Today, I was working all day, and I thought, “Oh, my! Should I get dressed up and put on a dress, or fix my hair before I see everyone?” And then I said, “No, no, I'm an artist, this is how I dress when I work.” And I felt confident in coming in here today and just being myself with you. There is a presentational quality and a pressure that we all feel now. And it was so rich, the culture… I don't mean it in a bad way, culture changes. We had no social media and nobody knew who we were. And we used to put on shows for each other at local places and we would show our artwork, paintings, photography, poems, music, performance art and everything. When I was 18 on the Lower East Side, I had so many artistic friends and nobody knew who we were except for each other. ‘I wish that I could give everyone that is an artist in the world the opportunity to live a week of my life. It's not about status, it's about the work. I think that there's a difference between making artistic things and then being in an artistic culture, meaning a culture of artistry, artists that hang out together, artists that talk to each other, spend time together, create together. ‘Culture is incredibly important – and I do think that art and culture are having a bit of a hard time at the moment. (Image credit: © 2022 Marvin Leuvrey, courtesy Dom Pérignon) So you have to work hard because some people don’t have the privilege.’ Lady Gaga on the fashion, styled by Nicola Formichetti And it’s important to do that because it’s a real privilege to make art. All I did was create all day long, and I just stared at it and listened to it and just worked… It is a labour of love. I think that this campaign was about those of us who have made it our life mission. You have to watch films, you have to read poetry, you have to read books, you have to also have a chat with yourself about being innovative. Without being too crass, it’s not just about taking a photo with your iPhone. Its theme, the labour of creation, ‘means that you need to work hard.

‘The fashion, the dance, the whole thing, was meant to be evocative of what it means to start at the beginning,’ says Gaga, linking the concept of the film to the long maturation of a vintage Dom Pérignon champagne. (Image credit: © 2022 Mario Sorrenti, courtesy Dom Pérignon)

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