Ariana Grande’s ‘God Is a Woman’ video pays homage to Jean Paul Gaultier
In Ariana Grande‘s world, God is a woman — and she wears Jean Paul Gaultier.
The popular anonymous Instagram account Diet Prada, which calls out copycat designs, pointed out that one of the scenes in Ariana Grande’s new “God Is a Woman” music video bears a striking resemblance to an iconic ad by the French fashion designer.
In the video, the “Bed” singer appears larger than life, clad in a nude bodysuit with artificial teats from which three men suckle.
Grande’s rep told Page Six that the choice to recreate this image was entirely intentional: Jean Paul Gaultier’s team was shown the video prior to its release, and completely approved the usage of their advertisement as a reference.
Similarly, the 1993 Gaultier campaign features model Ève Salvail baring her teeth at the camera while striking a similar pose in an identical bodysuit while surrounded by models fashioned as Roman gods.
“Is God a woman? More importantly, could she be a Jean Paul Gaultier woman?” Diet Prada wrote in the caption juxtaposing the two images. “@arianagrande is definitely making a strong case for it…or at least [the music video’s director] @dave_meyers is a fan of this SS 1993 ad campaign lol.”
Still, some followers interpreted Diet Prada’s post as implying that the pop star pilfered this idea from the legendary designer, while others were quick to point out that the entire video is actually one big homage to various works of art including Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam,” Rodin’s “The Thinker” and Georgia O’Keefe’s labial watercolors.
Another fan argued that both the video and the campaign are allusions to the story of Romulus and Remus, the mythological founders of Rome, and thus fair game for inspiration.
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