The Thierry Mugler designer lifts the lid on his friendship – and creative partnership – with the eccentric singer.
When Lady Gaga strutted her stuff on the Thierry Mugler catwalk earlier this month, it was hailed a highlight of Paris Fashion Week.
But the relationship between the singer and the label’s new creative director, Nicola Formichetti, runs deeper than the single promotional opportunity.
Indeed, the creative partnership they share is so important to Mr Formichetti, 32, that he refuses to let any financial arrangement take place between them in case it affects the results.
Creative partnership: Nicola Formichetti (left) with Lady Gaga and co-designer Sebastien Peigne after the Thierry Mugler catwalk show in Paris
In an interview today with the New York Times, he explained: ‘It’s just friends helping each other. I think when you start talking about money, it stops the whole creative process for me.’
He described how the singer was also the person who convinced him to take the job at the French fashion house – something he was apprehensive about, given that his experience is as a stylist and editor, not a designer.
‘We were shooting the Telephone video with Beyonce, and we had all these pieces from the Mugler archive,’ he recalled.
‘Then she started wearing them , and I thought it still worked in a pop-culture way. So I wanted to try.
What friends are for: Lady Gaga walked at the Thierry Mugler show earlier this month as a favour to Nicola Formichetti, and was not paid for the appearance
‘I’m not a designer. I’ve always trusted my instincts. She was like: “Go for it. We’ll just do something amazing together.”‘
It was a decision that paid off, and Mr Formichetti’s first womenswear offering has won high praise from buyers and fashion press alike.
WWD wrote: ‘Here, perhaps, is a new formula for fashion, merging entertainment, digital media, celebrity and outrΓ© clothes… it succeeded in delivering a mood and attitude increasingly rare.
Stylist-turned-designer: Mr Formichetti told how Gaga convinced him to take the Mugler job
‘Formichetti and Gaga are proponents of a strange beauty, believing fashion can transform and empower people who werenβt born that way.’
Jo-Ann Furniss who worked with Mr Formichetti during her time as editor of Arena Homme Plus, explained that the admiration between the pair was mutual when they met.
She said that though the stylist was ‘almost evangelical’ about Gaga, the singer had been following his work for years.
‘He’s not making a name off her back, and she realised that,’ she revealed. ‘Their relationship is very touching and nice.’
Ms Furniss added that Mr Formichetti’s former career as a stylist had given him a professional work ethic that had gone down well at the Mugler atelier.
‘His attitude is not the all-knowing designer. He was very upfront that Sebastien [Peigne] get credit. That this was a team effort.
‘And when you’re a stylist, it’s the way you work anyway – lots of people are involved.
‘The all-knowing genius designer is actually a fiction.’
In addition to his work for Gaga and Thierry Mugler, Mr Formichetti is also fashion director of Vogue Hommes Japan and Uniqlo.
He is of Italian-Japanese descent, and was born in Tokyo and raised in Rome, though his career in fashion began in London. He now divides his time between New York, Paris, London and Tokyo.
He is an avid social networker, with a blog and Twitter account that boasts over 40,000 followers.
