Lady Gaga Named Creative Director For Polaroid Specialty Line At CES Press Event

Formally announced at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, NV. Lady Gaga appears at the 1:25 mark.

via the Wall Street Journal

If Polaroid wanted attention by hiring Lady Gaga as its new creative director, it certainly succeeded.

I arrived 45 minutes early for Polaroid’s CES event Thursday, only to find 200 people already crowded into a press pen. The pop star’s music, with lyrics such as “I love your psycho, your vertigo stareschtick,” blared from the speakers (sadly, I know all the words).

While the brand that created the iconic instantaneous film remains well known around the world, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and was purchased and relaunched in 2009 by PLR IP Holdings. The troubled company made a splash on Tuesday prior to CES with the announcement that Lady Gaga, the 23-year-old singer known as much for her eccentric costumes as for her hit songs “Poker Face” and “Paparazzi,” would serve as a creative director for a “specialty line of Polaroid imaging products.” Whether or not she will actually have strong creative input remains to be seen.

Thursday’s crowd consisted of a horde of gray-haired, suit-clad buyers and exhibitors angling for a glimpse of the celeb. The most-cited reason for being there? Curiosity.

“Is she going to sing?” asked one buyer from Kohl’s who had positioned himself at the front of the crowd, right behind the chain-link rope. He’s here because his 12-year-old daughter is “a big fan,” he said. “I don’t know why.”

Another gray-haired buyer says his 21-year-old daughter loves Lady Gaga. “I’ll try to take a picture and email it,” he said.

Half an hour behind schedule, a Polaroid rep said that the company was “very, very excited” about its collaboration with the singer. Hundreds of cameras flashed as she took the stage, wearing her platinum blond hair in spikes that radiated outward from her head in the shape of a parasol.

Ms. Gaga wore large black sunglasses and her trademark deadpan expression. She expressed her excitement about her new position with Polaroid and joked that her parents were thrilled she finally has a “real job.”

“I myself am a Polaroid girl,” she told the crowd, which was still busy jostling each other for a photo.

After about two minutes, her microphone seemed to malfunction and her voice was barely audible. In earshot, however, she did announce: “This is not an endorsement deal. We won’t be selling cameras that have my face on them.” She also said she was pleased to be bringing instant cameras “into the future.”

Photos from the event here:
Getty Images
Film Magic
Corbis Images
Rex Features
PR Photos