We all know Lady Gaga for her out-of-this world outfits on her music videos and even on her concerts. Who can forget the time when Lady Gaga wore a dress made from real meat from head to toe? She displayed that meat couture at the 2010 Video Music Awards. The crowd-gathering dress was Nicola Formichetti’s idea according to fashion designer Franc Fernandez.
Yes, this name may strike a note in the fashion industry. Nicola Formichetti is the Italian-Japanese fashion icon behind the ready-to-wear line, Uniqlo.
Displaying flexibility at its finest, how was Formochetti able to transcend along the poles of the fashion industry spectrum, from haute couture to hip?
Meeting Lady Gaga
Nocola Formichetti is not just an ordinary fashion stylist. Just like other designers, he started working with some editorial and commercial clients. Because of his talent in fashion, he got his break as the creative director and stylist of the Dazed and Confused Magazine in London. Along the way, he had also been working for other fashion publications like the V Magazine and was able to style the renowned avant-garde artist, Lady Gaga. The artist seemed to have liked him and apparently became her personal design director.
Since then, he was the one who made all the outfits of Lady Gaga, including those she wore in the music video of Bad Romance and Poker Face, not to mention the limelight of the controversial “meat dress”.
But despite of the unique fashion, in an interview made by Mirror, he admitted that he had some regrets in the styles he had made for the singer.
The Monster and Designer Split
Those regrets might have been the reason why, after working for four years, Formichetti decided to leave the Haus of Gaga.
Apparently, everything done to the excess is bad. In an interview by Racked, Formichetti said that the singer changes clothes 12 times a day, and he was not able to catch up with it. This was because aside from being Gaga’s personal stylist, during that time, Formichetti also worked as an artistic director and creative fashion director of the Japanese RTW, Uniqlo.
Uniqlo over Lady Gaga
Because of his work load, Formichetti had to make sacrifices. Finally, he chose Uniqlo and decided to give up Lady Gaga.
After the split, he worked with Naoki Takizawa, Uniqlo’s then design director. He said that working with him had been great, and he really loved the company of the Japanese people.
After the controversial split, Formichetti assured that he and Lady Gaga were still best friends. His former assistant, Brandon Maxwell, took over his job as Gaga’s personal stylist.
Maybe it was all about his being Japanese. Or it probably was the Japanese working discipline. Whatever the real reason was, Nicola Formichetti had just proved that fashion is not only about couture and high art. Fashion can also be found in casual every day wear, thus continuing to make a name for himself.
Photo by IQRemix. Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Sources:
Banner Photo by Yne Van De Mergel. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Banner Photo by Hamzamekdad. Licensed under Creatine Commons.
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