Imagine you are a Jeopardy! contestant and the answer is: “This 24-year-old pop superstar spent one of her first waitress checks on a $600 Gucci purse.” You buzz in with the question: “Who is Lady Gaga?” The bell dings. You win the prize!
That $600 Gucci purse gave a glimpse into the future. Lady Gaga now has her own hand-picked creative fashion team she calls Haus of Gaga. She likes to design some of her over-the-top costumes and spent a big chunk of the $62 million she raked in last year on her outfits. When it comes to stage costumes, Lady Gaga wants her style of outfit to go with her performance. She’s all about the whole package and the overall impact, not just singing the song or interpreting the song lyrics. That’s part of her unique style.
When thinking of style and Lady Gaga, many adjectives come to mind. Outrageous, offensive, expensive, bizarre and creative are just a few. Have you seen anyone else wear an outfit made up of large clear soap bubbles? That is outrageous. How about a designer jacket or a high-end top combined with no pants? That might be offensive. What about the Jean Paul Gaultier futuristic body suit with sparkle boots? Gaultier could be very, very expensive. Then there was that headgear thing that was a huge stalagmite headpiece that looked like it was about to crash to the floor. That was too bizarre. Remember the red lace one-piece body suit from bottom to top, over the face and formed into a crown on her head? That was all about creative. She definitely has the market on strange attention-grabbing outfits.
Getting attention is another aspect of Lady Gaga’s unique sense of style she could probably teach to others. She knows how to get attention. Attention is a very good thing for those wanting to be in the spotlight. The more controversial the style, the more time in the spotlight. Lady Gaga certainly has a unique sense of style which includes her business sense and her style of branding. The more drama she adds to her costumes, the bigger the number of photos showing up on line, the more clicks that get clicked on her pages, the more interview requests she receives and . . . keep going with the ripple effect.
Her sense of style transfers to her business dealings as she insists in calling the shots. Whether it is a photographer, a director or an actor, Lady Gaga typically shares her vision for all scenes. She is intricately involved in most of the decisions related to her performances. She even convinces sponsors to give free concert tickets to her Little Monsters (her fans) in exchange for hours of community service.
Going back to her early days playing at clubs and doing open mike night, Lady Gaga’s unique sense of style kept her in the spotlight. At one point she regularly dressed in a bikini for a gig and played piano; she was a go go dancer. Her “less is more” attitude for fashion seemed to make a memorable impression. Then skirts got trimmed shorter and shorter and shorter until they seemed to disappear. In contrast with her dark hair from, leg warmer, punk style from her school days, Gaga’s style evolved from a punky school girl look to high-end exclusive designer fashion.
An intelligent student in school and business, Lady Gaga studied a biography of another innovative artist, Prince. She read advice and looked at potential images until she decided to take the advice of producer Rob Fusari and explore the glam style of Freddy Mercury or David Bowie. She went from brunette to blond and let her creative style go crazy thinking of costumes for different moods or for a certain theme. Her decision involving her style brand enhanced her natural talent and helped her career climb to record-breaking heights.
Style is about more than just fashion and accessories. No one else in the business has Lady Gaga’s unique sense of style regarding many aspects of her career. She is definitely successful in branding as she has the most followers of anyone in the world on Facebook with over 10 million. The same record holds true for Twitter where her followers number over 5 million. Sit back and see what records are next.
