All eyes on Doja Cat. Whether seeing her on stage or in the front row at a fashion show, the spotlight is on the multi-Grammy Award-winning artist.

Text by MARISA MELTZER Photography GREG LOTUS Styling BRETT ALAN NELSON
 Last January, Doja Cat sat front row at the <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/schiaparelli-show-fall-winter-2023-collection-photo-look" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Schiaparelli by</a> <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/hommes/daniel-roseberry-schiaparelli-fashion-designer-an-american-in-paris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Roseberry</a> haute couture show, covered head to toe in tens of thousands of red crystals. The result was magnetic. You couldn't take your eyes off her, even if she was next to a fashion legend, and granddaughter of Elsa Schiaparelli, like Marisa Berenson , or Kylie Jenner, who wore a realistic, if fake, lion's head that after a few minutes she would have her catwalk debut. In that moment, Doja Cat transformed from mere pop star to true fashion superstar. And not happy with her Schiaparelli look, at the <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/viktor-rolf-haute-couture-2023-humourous-against-gravity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Viktor&amp;Rolf</a> show two days later, her beauty look included false eyelashes worn in an unconventional way, to form eyebrows, mustache and fly stubble. A wink to whoever suggested she wear eyelashes at Schiaparelli. Doja, born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, has been making waves since 2018 but continues to dominate the scene, with her new hit &ldquo; Mooo! &rdquo; , her 2020 hit &ldquo; Say So &rdquo; and her 2021 essential and effervescent album &ldquo;Planet Lei&rdquo;. The singer has amassed 16 Grammy nominations, including a win for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with &ldquo;Kiss Me More &rdquo; together with SZA. At only 27, she seems to have already embodied many characters, such as <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/portraits/lofficiel-ibiza-cover-star-icon-madonna-by-ricardo-gomes-portis-was" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Madonna</a> . It is true that if Doja dresses like an alien covered in crystals, writes a song for the soundtrack of "Elvis", a cult film by Baz Luhrmann, or shaves her hair, certainly she is not a woman willing to pigeonhole herself or his art. Rather, it's a genuine creative spirit who isn't afraid of what it looks like. Doja is ready to try anything.

Embroidered dress, OFF-WHITE.

L'OFFICIEL joined her via Zoom, in her home in California, where the ceiling-high windows overlook an arid landscape. Wearing a Uma Thurman wig in &ldquo;Pulp Fiction&rdquo;, sipping a drink through a straw and painting in the meantime, we talked about everything: from art and creativity to clothes in &ldquo;When Harry Met Sally&rdquo;, from perfectionism to Frank Lloyd Wright. And whether it is trivial to talk about astrology. DOJA CAT: Do you want to see me? MARISA MELTZER: Yes, I would, if it doesn't sound too creepy. DC: (The camera turns on, nda). I am intent on painting. I have a studio up here. I painted an egg, and it was a nightmare to do it. MM: It reminds me of Leonora Carrington. Do you know his work? She was one of the few surrealist artists. Where do you draw inspiration for your art from? DC: I think I don't have a favorite artist. I like Salvador Dali. This is the first I've ever nominated. Then there are some on Instagram. There is a boy, whose name for &nbsp; whole is made up of all three first names: Steven Parker Jackson. It's really cool; he did some stuff for the Jordan Peele film &ldquo;Nope&rdquo;. He made little alien figures. &nbsp;

MM: Would you like to have an exhibition of your art in the future? &nbsp; DC: First I have to prove to myself that I deserve it. I don&#39;t know if I&#39;m good enough to do that. Some people just put a little paint on a canvas and sometimes it sells for $100,000. MM: How are you going to know if you&#39;re good enough? How did you know that &nbsp; Was your music good enough for the world out there? &nbsp; DC: Well, I shared it on SoundCloud and Facebook… I needed that feedback. And I received two likes, and that was enough for me… because I like making music. MM: Are you a perfectionist? Are you hard on yourself? &nbsp; DC: Sure, it happens to me. I do not know. Sometimes I give myself big blows. I have days like this. MM: Is fashion and the way you wear make-up or how you dress a creative act for you? &nbsp; DC: Obviously, I&#39;m willing to sacrifice my comfort; I would do anything to fulfill that fantasy that feeds in my head. But then yeah, in my personal life I really enjoy finding the line between being comfortable but also doing something exciting with whatever I&#39;m wearing. And it&#39;s kind of a game for me. MM: Anyone in particular that excites you? &nbsp; DC: Do you know who I love? Charlotte Knowles is a stylist and made my dress for this year&#39;s Grammy night. It was brown leather, and it was very tattered and it was very cowboy, that kind of vibe. And I love it.

“I am willing to sacrifice my comfort; I would do anything to make those fantasies come true they travel in my head.

MM: Tell me how the look you wore for the Schiaparelli show was born. It was so beautiful and scary at the same time… &nbsp; DC: My stylist Brett Alan Nelson and I wanted to do something really big for haute couture week. I love Schiaparelli, and so whenever Brett brings Schiaparelli, I&#39;m 100% into it. He was saying to me: «Yes, Schiaparelli wants to do something with you». And before he could finish the sentence, I had already answered &quot;Yes.&quot; Sketches created by Daniel Roseberry arrived and I loved everything he sent me. I fell in love with him. I went to Paris, and did a few shows before Schiaparelli. Super quiet, super easy, fun, loved it. I didn&#39;t realize that on the day of the show I would have to get up at four in the morning to arrive at five or so. So we get backstage, and I don&#39;t realize it until I sit down and realize I have gastroenteritis. I was terrible. MM: Oh no! DC: And I&#39;m sitting there, and it feels like a knife in my belly. The whole team was so sweet, they were all so understanding, so sensitive and kind. He was amazing and very professional. I tried to joke and make light of the situation, but as the hours passed, it got worse. I felt like I had a blade in my stomach and it was spinning at 150 kilometers per hour. I have never experienced worse pain than that, and on one of the most important days of my life! It was all so full of crazy emotions and sensations. Pat McGrath was so sweet. He kept giving me ginger ale and all these special things to help settle my stomach. MM: And in the meantime what were they doing? Did they dip the crystals in some glue and stick them on you with tweezers, one by one? DC: I had my arms outstretched, sitting up and wearing underwear and a bandeau top. They started with a coat of red paint, and they just covered me with that and then a coat of glue, and then I think they dusted glitter on top. Then the crystals. And I had one, two, three, four people working on my body, better on different sections of my body. MM: It was worth it, right? &nbsp; DC: Yes, definitely. I am very, very proud of it. &nbsp;

MM: What else would you like to do related to the fashion world? Would you ever design clothes? &nbsp; DC: Yes, I would probably design clothes. I am already 27 years old. And I&#39;m sure there are people who blossom later in the fashion world, but I don&#39;t have a history of making clothes, so I don&#39;t know. What I know is that there are things I want to learn and discover in the fashion system. So maybe if I had a talented team that could help me materialize those thoughts that would be an interesting thing. But it seems so laborious task. So I paint. And it&#39;s much easier: dip a brush in some goo and slap it on the canvas. MM: &quot;I don&#39;t know, am I 27?&quot; You have so much time to learn how to be a stylist if that&#39;s what you want. But the late twenties are also an interesting time, with the return of Saturn. &nbsp; DC: I didn&#39;t even know about the return of Saturn until three or four days ago. My mother is super into astrology, and I always put astrology down until I have a crisis and need an answer. So I thought it&#39;s really very interesting, the Saturn return, because I was just going through it. I feel like there&#39;s always that guy at the club who&#39;s like, &#39;Oh my god, what&#39;s your sign? You&#39;re really giving me a Gemini energy.&quot; That kind of vibe. Those are the people I love the least. They make me nervous. And I have friends who are literally like that, and I tolerate them. But I don&#39;t fully trust people like that. I can not do that. MM: You are right. I mean, even astrology has become such a weird thing, with its commodification, the TikTok and Instagram of astrology. It&#39;s a lot of stuff. Do you have any fashion heroes, from the present, from before you were born or from when you were growing up? DC: I&#39;d say my fashion hero is probably my ex. I met him about two years ago, and he taught me different things like interior design and told me about great and legendary people like Frank Lloyd Wright. He had a very adult and sophisticated style. I was a bit the opposite when we met. And I really loved how he seemed very at peace with himself. I wasn&#39;t in the same position, so I was inspired. And the way you say hero, I feel like he&#39;s my hero style-wise. So much so that now I seem to dress much more sophisticated than I ever have. It&#39;s nice to be able to go out and feel beautiful, but without putting too much effort into it.

«I am a person who will no longer exist … so whatever what I do, it will be original».

MM: There&#39;s a vulnerability, I guess, to dressing up and being yourself, when you know you could have your picture taken at any moment. Do you think about the way you dress according to the stages of your career, how Madonna interpreted her different looks? &nbsp; DC: Definitely through different phases. Well, I think my mood changes with the season. In summer or spring, I like to wear much less clothes and I like to show off joyful clothes, in line with the vibe of the season. I love bright colours. I dress in sequins and metallic fabrics. I dress like... &nbsp; What&#39;s the name of the protagonist of &quot;Legally Blonde&quot;? MM: Elle Woods. &nbsp; DC: I dress like I&#39;m caught in stills from “Legally Blonde”. And then in autumn and winter, I really love dark tones. And now I dress like a pirate. This is my craze. I just got a pirate hat off Amazon and I haven&#39;t put it on because it looks so silly. (He takes the pirate hat, puts it on and starts laughing, ed.). MM: I don&#39;t know, it&#39;s good for you. &nbsp; DC: It&#39;s so steampunk it hurts. I just want to find a middle ground between… “ I love history and I love historical fashion ” . MM: Style-wise, the really exciting stuff can come from what scares you or makes you feel a little out of style or costumed. Be the pirate. &nbsp; DC: I really love simplicity because I struggle with it so much. It&#39;s something that seems alien to me, which is why I&#39;m intimidated when I try to convey a simple image. Do you want to know something? Angelina Jolie and Meg Ryan are my two icons… I&#39;m obsessed with their whole look. I think of Angelina wearing a black long sleeve shirt with some fucking jeans and a boot and a pair of sunglasses. It looks like she just woke up, like it&#39;s nothing. And it looks just amazing. That look moved me. And then Meg Ryan too, when she wore a big giant coat. She wore these big coats with shoulders and hats, but it didn&#39;t seem like she put too much effort into creating that mood. It seemed to be what it was, and it suited her perfectly. In &quot;When Harry Met Sally&quot; all the dresses of those years. I loved it. It was one of my favorite movies. I refer a lot to Meg and Angelina when I talk to my glam team and talk about fashion.

MM: Those looks are consistent because in many cases it was just their clothes. They didn&#39;t have stylists. They even went to previews wearing their own clothes. And there&#39;s something so fulfilling, and intriguing, about it. &nbsp; DC: It&#39;s always okay to do something campy and crazy and fun, but there&#39;s nothing more amazing than a casual outfit that looks fucking awesome. There&#39;s nothing like looking like you haven&#39;t even tried, and looking way cooler than most of the people around you. MM: And that&#39;s also how you avoid crossing the line into not just being a character? Living those moments that are more like a dive, more natural, more spontaneous? &nbsp; DC: You need to have more silent moments so that your biggest moments are effective when done. MM: You need the peaks and valleys in order to build your balance. Are you working on new music? &nbsp; DC: Yes. Slowly but surely. I probably have ten or twelve songs or so.

MM: &nbsp; Do you listen to other music while creating your own? &nbsp; DC: Yes. I listen to a lot of music, but I listen to music that I don&#39;t. I listen to some Japanese House, Dead Can Dance, Drop Nineteens. I listened to the Cocteau Twins a lot. MM: You&#39;re mentioning genres that aren&#39;t like what you do; Will they affect what you&#39;re working on? Will things sound different? &nbsp; DC: No, it&#39;s not actually like that, which is very interesting because I think I&#39;m influenced by things I grew up with. And I didn&#39;t grow up with the Cocteau Twins. But surely that is a place where my mind can rest when listening to music like that. I avoid hearing rap. I don&#39;t listen to anyone&#39;s music because I feel that influence might be strong. I tread lightly, because at times I could definitely emulate the people I love the most. And I&#39;m trying to be original. MM: Yet your idea of emulation could sound so original. &nbsp; DC: No, and that&#39;s the beauty of it. And that&#39;s what I&#39;m looking for. I am a person who will no longer exist… so whatever I do, it will be original.

Talent: Doja Cat Photography: Greg Lotus Styling: Brett Alan Nelson Hair: JStay Ready Makeup: Laurel Charleston Nails: Saccia Livingston Producer: Daniele Carrettoni @ espresso productions Retouching: Lara Chrome &nbsp; Make-up assistant: Edwin Monzon Assistant Producer: Daniela Colton Styling Assistants: Kristen Ritchie, LJ Perez, Tumas Zarskus and Malia Rusher

The Only One: Doja Cat

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