Sartorial Salute: Lady Gaga

By Chris Frey
February 21, 2011

The Lady Gaga Express has left the station. And if her provocative processional entrance into the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards from the inside of a giant semi-translucent egg is any indication of what’s to come, her “little monsters,” as she calls her fans, are on board for a wild ride. The Gaga media blitz began when she launched “Born This Way,” her first new single in over a year and the song she performed once she "hatched" at the Grammys. Rolling Stone magazine called the song’s release “an event, a statement, the most anticipated song in the history of recorded music.” Equally anticipated, without question, is the parade of jaw dropping fashions that stylist and costume compatriot Nicola Formichetti, along with Gaga and her creative team Haus of Gaga, will conjure up for her Monster Ball Tour, beginning tomorrow.

Lady Gaga: Signature Looks

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Singer Lady Gaga performs onstage during the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on February 13, 2011
Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Singer Lady Gaga arrives at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE on September 12, 2010
Photo Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Lady Gaga accepts award from Cher on stage at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on September 12, 2010
Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur/Contributor
Lady Gaga performs as part of Lollapalooza 2010 at Grant Park on August 6, 2010
Photo Credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Lady GaGa attends the Mac Viva Glam Launch hosted by Sharon Osbourne at Ill Bottaccio on March 1, 2010 in London
Photo Credit: Ian Gavan/Getty Images
Lady Gaga performs at The Brit Awards 2010 held at Earls Court on February 16, 2010
Photo Credit: Dave Hogan/Getty Images
Musician Lady Gaga arrives at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 31, 2010
Photo Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Singer Lady Gaga performs onstage during the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 31, 2010
Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Singer Lady Gaga attends the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2009
Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

The cover art for Born This Way offers no fashion to ogle—just Gaga photographed in slick black and white with a blown out lion’s mane of hair, cat like make-up and the appearance of pointy implants just beneath the surface of her skin; a sort of visual love letter to pop icons David Bowie, Duran Duran and others from the late 70’s/early 80’s. Her cheeky, alien-esque coquettishness is in stark contrast to her elegant debut on the cover of American Vogue’s “Power Issue,” for which she dons a pale pink Louise Brook's bob and bleached eyebrows, delicately sheathed in a Grecian draped silk kimono robe by designer Haider Ackermann.

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Lady Gaga Album Cover

Lady Gaga Vogue

Titillating as these images are, the glimpses of Gaga in print can’t compete with the Lady herself, who recently appeared with Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes wearing a nude body suit and white thigh high boots, telling Cooper “I just didn’t want to wear clothes today,” except for, of course, a towering pair of her beloved McQueens. For their stroll through London, Gaga wore what she guessed were 10 inch high platforms, a black Goth corset dress and big '60s Barbarella hair. For her Grammys performance she emerged from her space egg and, along with her entourage of dancers, appeared in transparent yellow and flesh-toned latex. Within moments she was back on stage to accept her award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance wearing a black hard shell one-piece, molded to resemble futuristic body armor, finished with the pointed shoulders (underneath her skin mind you) that we expect to see more of as the tour continues.

Lady Gaga & The Art of Fame (provided by YouTube)

Impossible to predict, and even more impossible to duplicate, Gaga keeps us guessing. Knowing that we couldn’t replicate her creations for you (and that you probably wouldn’t leave the house in them) we decided instead to borrow from the playfulness of her name and bring you wearable pieces that combine the regal Lady and the eccentric Gaga. It’s a sort of Gaga couture-lite, for those of us who need to keep our day jobs.

PS. While you won't find these pieces by searching "Lady Gaga" on eBay, you will come up with almost 20,000 results, ranging from costumes to tickets to DVDs and signed guitars. In fact, in a recent 30 day period (1/13-2/11) as fans geared up for Gaga's new album, they purchased 17 percent more Gaga-related items on eBay than in the 30 days prior.