Dressing Lady Gaga

Under Toyko-born stylist Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga has transformed from a pop-star to a fashion phenomenon. The man responsible for the meat dress talks us through some of her most memorable looks

Hoodwinked
MTV's TRL, August 2008
"I wanted to bring her more into high fashion. I'd brought all of these really amazing clothes - Givenchy, Chanel, Versace. So she shows up to the shoot at 8am in her whole look: outfit, hair, make-up and heels. I was like: 'This bitch is crazy. She's living it.' That's unheard of. Most celebrities turn up wanting you to dress them. I was mesmerised. And she had this great body with all these tattoos. I told her, 'You should let me shoot you naked.' She was like, 'You have all these amazing clothes, why would you want to shoot me naked?' I was like, 'F*** couture, let's do naked.' And she later told me, that's when she knew that I was as crazy as she is. We connected."

The Glastobubble
Glastonbury, August 2009
"If you're a high fashion stylist, you don't touch music. That's the rule. So when I started working with Gaga, people were really surprised. I really liked her video for Paparazzi and felt like she was taking it somewhere interesting. I loved her look. So I suggested her to a few magazines for a cover shoot. And they were like, 'No. Who's that?' And then I pitched her to V magazine. They said, 'Sure, why not?'. They were the most supportive."

Ruffling Feathers
VMA Awards, September 2009
"Celebrities on the red carpet selling a hideous dress is a Hollywood concept that is fake and bland. I don't consider Gaga a celebrity. I consider her a performance artist. In a way, celebrity is the death of fashion. Gaga doesn't work in that formula. She studies the fashion and art world. She's not just wearing it. When we do the red carpet, we want it to be a bit off. We want it to mean something, like the egg at the Grammys. At our first VMA Awards - the one where she bled to death on stage - we did seven outfit changes that night. I was standing backstage with all of these safety pins. And they were like, 'Who are these people?' It was a little fashion show."

The McQueen of Pop
Brit Awards, February 2010
"In the beginning, it was tricky calling in clothes for Gaga because none of the designers wanted to work with her with the exception of Alexander McQueen and Miuccia Prada. They were both supportive from the beginning.
I remember every single designer who said no. I will never forget. When I styled her in McQueen for Bad Romance I just wanted to get her into the next phase of high, high, high concept. Lee (McQueen) said, 'For me, she is the future.'"

A Meating of Minds
MTV Awards, September 2010
"I never look at it as Gaga and I trying to top the last outfit. We just both get bored easily. We're always reading crazy, random things and emailing them to each other for inspiration. We don't want our fans seeing the same thing over and over. I love denim and am always thinking of ways to do it so that it looks new. But she's always in leather. That's her. It's hard to believe we've only been doing this together for two years."

A Lady in Latex
Walking at the Mugler show, March 2011
"I'm not a designer, I never went to fashion school. And when I was offered the job at the fashion house Mugler, Gaga was the one who said, 'Just do it in your own way.' When she walked in the show, she worked those heels better than the models! She wears high heels at yoga. Gaga bought every piece. The clothes are ageless, they are for a woman with an attitude."