5. The Geisha Look
When Katy dressed up as a geisha for her American Music Awards performance, she faced heavy criticism and accusations of racism. She tried to defend herself, saying that she dressed up like this to create a beautiful performance and because she loves Japan and thinks it’s the capital of adorableness. That statement in itself was also considered reductive of Japan’s culture.
What Katy failed to understand in that moment was that a love for a certain part of culture doesn’t provide you the right to use it as a costume for a performance. Japan’s geisha history isn’t just a stage prop.
6. The Coronation Look
A coronation isn’t a common event, and it can be quite challenging to dress correctly for such a unique occasion, especially considering it’s not part of your country’s culture and the royals have many strict rules. And Katy Perry almost did it right for once, but the internet did make many memes about the size of her fascinator (which was honestly humongous) and the fact that her pearl necklace made way too much of a statement. But Katy isn’t a stranger to being criticised, so she just said she was happy about the memes and not that bothered.
7. The Met Gala “Art Theft” Incident
Not only was this particular dress not on theme for the Met Gala (the theme was “China: Through the Looking Glass”), but it caused actual legal trouble for Perry and Moschino. So she wore a graffiti-covered dress—what’s the big deal? But it turns out the graffiti on the dress was by a street artist, Rime, and Moschino never asked him whether they could use it in their designs and obviously didn’t compensate the artist for using his art. They even went further and arrived in a graffiti-covered car to the Met Gala and carried around fake spray cans, as if to imply that it was Katy Perry and creative director Jeremy Scott who were the ones to create that graffiti. So naturally, Rime sued Moschino and mentioned Katy Perry in his lawsuit too. And that’s how Katy Perry ended up not only on the worst-dressed list but also accused of art theft.
