Lady Gaga and Polaroid Team Up for ‘Grey Label’ Instant Cameras

If Polaroid needs rescuing, Lady Gaga is here to save the day.

The makers of the classic photo film and the iconic instant camera have found themselves in a new decade where film is finished and digital is du jour. But Gaga wants to make those nifty, quicky physical photos relevant again.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of Polaroid’s announcement that the pop queen and fashion phenomenon signed on to be a creative director at the troubled camera company. At the time, Gaga told fans that she would be working hard on developing “prototypes in the vein of fashion/technology/photography innovation.” And now we finally get to see what she’s got.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this Thursday, Gaga will unveil what Polaroid is calling their new “Grey Label.” Details about the release are being kept mum, but Polaroid describes it as “the next generation of instant experience.” The much-hyped project even has its own website, complete with a clock countdown to the live unveiling at 3:30 p.m. PT.

Polaroid’s reinvention has been a long time coming. The company was widely criticized for failing to anticipate just how much digital technology would effect its sales. This resulted in bankruptcy in 2001 and then, in 2008, the discontinuation of its instant cameras.

Anyone who has ever used an instant camera knows how fun it can be. Taking a photo and then immediately having it in your hand to show off is an experience that digital images just cannot live up to, and if it takes an international pop superstar to convince people of that … then so be it.

And who knows, maybe Lady Gaga and all her “little monsters” will bring film back to the spotlight. Thoughts?

Jeff Racheff:

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