LADY GAGA’S JAZZ & PIANO FASHION TRANSPORTS US BACK IN TIME
Wonderland speaks with the designers behind Lady Gaga’s Jazz & Piano residency in Las Vegas, unpacking the way her wardrobe transcends genres and pays a multifaceted homage to the power of jazz.
“When I was a kid, my family would show me movies about Italians — and they were all criminals!” Lady Gaga laughs. She grins cheekily into her mic and bats her rhinestone-studded eyes, before whispering, “But always well dressed!” Her cape whirling around her and her feathered headpiece hovering like a halo, she launches into her cabaret-meets-pop cover of her longtime friend and jazz icon Tony Bennett’s “Rags to Riches.” She has, once again, reinvented herself.
A constant narrative of unprecedented and evolving aesthetics, this time, her wardrobe marries old Italian glamour with vintage Vegas opulence, though as distinctly well-dressed and indelibly Gaga as always. “Lady Gaga is a fashion legend when it comes to reinvention, right?” says designer and founder of SANTA brands Yana Stanislavs, who designed one of Gaga’s customs for the residency. “Her evolution is inspiring. The bold experimentation, the fearless glamour, and that touch of theatricality – these are all elements that flow throughout her career.”
Lady Gaga saved the theatrics and wardrobe spectacles in her 2024 Jazz & Piano residency at Park MGM’s Dolby Live in Las Vegas — or at least, comparatively, in that she didn’t ascend the stage in raw meat or descend in a blinding disco bodysuit with shoes that to anyone else would be debilitating kicking beneath her. As she returns to the stage amidst ongoing health battles, her music has felt increasingly personal, delving into the identities, history, and stories behind lyrics and prioritising stripped-down, raw performances above zany — albeit unforgettable — stagecraft. But dressing her would nonetheless remain a tall order — especially because her wardrobe was imbued with as much depth and complexity as always. In classic Gaga fashion, she wore a rotation of luxury labels and custom pieces from emerging, independent voices, wholly celebrating artistry from designers big and small for little monsters young and old. Her fashion worked in tandem with her music to break the walls demarcating genres, unite a distinctly eclectic crowd, and shatter the confines of time and space.
In exclusive conversations with Wonderland, the designers behind her custom looks shed light on their design inspiration and collaboration with Gaga’s team, unpacking the way music and fashion worked in unison to transport little monsters back in time and pay homage to the timeless power of jazz.
Laruicci custom earrings.
As the orchestra proceeded on stage, side screens dazzled with footage of Gaga warming up alongside longtime bandmates, who have joined her on stage since 2019, when she turned her preexisting pop residency Engima into a dual genre show, an unprecedented notion in the music industry. Sparkling in an old favourite, she opened the five segment show in her classic bespoke fringe dress by Marbella-based designer Adrián Manceras, paired with a black-streaked platinum bob harkening back to her Born This Way era. To top off the look, she turned to Phyllis Cohen, founder of Face Lace, for mesmerising eye crystals.
Cohen previously worked with Gaga for her 2017 Superbowl performance, and again on her futuristic punk facial decals for the 2020 “Stupid Love” music video, but for the jazz residency, he brainstormed a more classic look. “We didn’t think something trendy would be appropriate. We were looking for a seminal idea of editorial makeup but with a twist,” he shared with Wonderland about his collaboration with Gaga’s makeup artist Sarah Tanno, crediting the perfect inspiration to an old 80s photo of Romy Sneider. “It is a hybrid of many eras. The style reminds me of Erte drawings and also 60s Twiggy lashes. It’s a timeless sort of punk doll look but very classy.” He reinterpreted this look with European premium glass crystals, of course, in classic Face Lace fashion, and finished the designs in one weekend to get them to Tanno in time.
Another longtime collaborator of Gaga’s, LA-based hat designer Arturo Rio crafted a headpiece for the occasion, emulating the techniques and ethos of legendary Italian hat designer Karen Indreland. When speaking with Wonderland, Rio explained that he first started working with Gaga for her “G.U.Y.” music video in 2013, when she wore a feathered black headpiece in her surrealist mythology-inspired music video. Since then, he has accompanied her through her many changes, ensuring that each piece is “distinct and different from previous hats,” and mentioned that her butterfly feather-adorned white peacock headpiece, designed for her 2021 residency, is his favourite to date. “These pieces aren’t made in just a few hours. I spent days designing and pulling all the materials together,” Rio shared. Most importantly, he pointed to the durability necessary of these pieces. “Her performances are very dynamic and energetic, so the pieces must be, too.” As she danced to Sinatra’s “The Best is Yet to Come” and Tony Bennet’s “Steppin’ Out with my Baby” in a 1950s-burlesque fashion, her Swarovski crystal-emblazoned fringe dress and intricate feather headpiece commanded attention on their own, while also amplifying her transportative performance. Mission accomplished.
On her ears, Gaga wore sparkling custom handmade earrings from Laruicci, an NYC-based jewellery brand Gaga was first seen wearing back in 2018. “It was really good timing to be working with Lady Gaga because she was just creating the concept of Jazz & Piano, originally meant to be a single, experimental jazz show of the great American songbook performed live,” designer Lauren Ruicci shared. “Each pair of earrings she’s worn in her residency were created using polished brass, with crystal, hoops and exaggerated graduated oval shapes in various sizes, like the ones featured in her Jazz + Piano promotional shoot shot by Inez and Vinoodh. Those crystalized shapes and hoops get plated in Rhodium and assembled at The Laruicci Megawatt Studio in New York city. This process makes them all unique and helps them to shine in the spotlight onstage and evoke a new level of confidence in anyone who wears them.”
Riucci noted that she especially loved how Gaga wore these earrings during this first segment of the concert because it was interlaced with provocative humour. She flirtatiously teased a couple sitting at a stage-side table, challenging them to a drinking game she referred to as “Swallow,” which she won by downing a full glass of whiskey in seconds before transitioning to a cabaret-inspired rendition of “Call Me Irresponsible.” She ended the first chapter with a piano number of perhaps the most fitting song for the residency, “Poker Face,” after sharing anecdotes about her own gambling experience. The acoustic jazz version of the iconic number accentuated lyrics that are often lost in the beats of their pop origins, such as “P-p-p-oker face f-f-f-uck her face,” after which she cheekily turned to the audience and shared, “I bet you didn’t know this song was about having sex with men while thinking about women. Because now, THAT’S a poker face!” Reflecting on this performance, Riucci said, “This was a very personal moment in the show where you absolutely fell in love with Lady Gaga. It shows the exact reason she’s wearing those earrings: their visual texture perfectly represents the lady herself in a moment where self expression is her only invincible armour.”
As the second section kicked off, Gaga wowed the audience in a silver sequin tulle cape gown by Pamella Roland, with starburst embroidery and custom ostrich feather trim. After introducing her bandmates, she took a seat at the piano for an electric, gospel-like rendition of “Born This Way,” a message that transcends clearly delineated albums or genres. Especially as she spoke about pride and trans rights, her music felt timelessly relevant, before she transitioned into a jazzy, upbeat rendition of “Stupid Love.”
In the third section — a personal favourite — the star emerged in a red sequin gown with a feather neckline, designed by longtime collaborator Perry Meek. In an exclusive interview with Wonderland, the Australian costume designer reflected upon his years on the road with Gaga, from the Monster Ball to the Joanne tour, with countless music video looks (such as the star-spangled bikini for “Telephone”), Born This Way and Artpop customs (including the iconic latex prosthetic-adorned ensemble at the 2011 Grammys), and an Emmy for her Rupaul’s drag race appearance in between. Their creative collaboration resurfaced for the jazz residency at the last minute, he explained, after he ran into Gaga’s jazz residency stylists Sandra Amador and Tom Erebout at her sister Natali’s wedding. He credited their collaborative process, saying, “She has very clear ideas of what she likes, and it’s always a collaboration.” For this particular look, he explained: “I wanted it to feel like old Hollywood and a sexy jazz club from the 40’s. That fabric is VERY time consuming to work with: you have to remove all stones along the seam lines, then sew it together and then replace the stones and the dress is quite heavy — but of course Gaga is used to wearing anything difficult with ease.”
Meek’s design felt especially fitting for this chapter, as Gaga performed reinterpretations of jazz classics such as Michael Bubble’s “Sway” — interpolated with multilingual portions — and resurrected signature classics from old eras. She shocked the audience by reviving her 2011 number “Americano,” a song written in response to Proposition 8 and Arizona immigration laws. “A big mariachi techno-house record, where I am singing about immigration law and gay marriage and all sorts of things that have to do with disenfranchised communities in America…,” she told Vogue in 2011. “It sounds like a pop record, but when I sing it, I see Edith Piaf in a spotlight with an old microphone.” A personal favourite from the performance, she also sang a raging acoustic performance of “Paparazzi” featuring an especially memorable solo from bandleader, trumpeter, and her longtime friend Brian Newman — who has collaborated with Gaga since her 20s, before her meteoric rise to fame, and has seen the star through every era of her career. The duet’s synergy embodies the unpretentious ethos of the show, which, at its core, is a soulful celebration of music and companionship. “The residency is studded with these unprecedented up close and personal moments,” Ruicci noted. “In front of less than 5,000 people in the theatre.”
In this celebratory number, Gaga wore a hand-made red feather headpiece by Carrie Jenkinson Millinery, one of the UK’s leading fashion milliners who has designed for the Royal Family and has been featured in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. “Lady Gaga already inspired a lot of stuff that I do — because she’s very bold and outrageous too. My work has gotten more and more outrageous as my career has developed, and her team reached out to me asking if I’d be interested in designing something, I honestly thought it was a joke!” Jenkinson shared with Wonderland. “Having someone like Lady Gaga inspire me and give me the opportunity to create is just really something. I live in a tiny village, I’m not based in London, so it just really means so much to me. She has so much confidence in the way she looks, she’s not afraid to embrace design, she’s not afraid to try new and smaller designers.”
For the fourth segment of the concert, Gaga stunned in a custom pink feather number by SANTA brand, founded in 2019 by Yana Stanislavsk. “It all started when Lady Gaga’s incredible stylist, Tom Eerebout, contacted us directly. He had envisioned a custom piece for the Vegas residency, and the mood board he sent over was pure magic,” Stanislavsk shared. “SANTA’s aesthetic perfectly aligned with the vision. It had everything that screams SANTA: feathers, sparkles, and those one-of-a-kind silhouettes.” Paired with the sparkly eye makeup and a pair of glitter Jimmy Choo pumps, it added to the old school glamour of her residency aesthetic. “The feathers added a touch of classic Vegas magic and a touch of old-school jazz. The silhouette allowed for dynamic movement that complemented the music. We wanted to evoke a sense of glamour and power, with a touch of playfulness — a perfect blend for Lady Gaga’s captivating performances.”
She wore this for some of the most chilling sections of the concert: a chillingly powerful performance of “La Vie en Rose” followed by a jarringly sombre rendition of “Bad Romance.” Though the studio recording of the pop megabanger is imbued with techno and rock influences, her stripped down piano number spotlighted the song’s musical nuances: she straddled between differing languages, tones, and lyrical play, her voice transitioning from harsh raspiness to gentility and evoking the pain at the heart of the song. In fact, Jenkinson noted that her favourite headpiece — out of the 8 variations she sent to the team, 4 were worn with different costumes in the show — was the one worn for “Bad Romance” because of the performance’s complexity and depth. “It took hours to make — the wire is sculpted, and each individual feather is stuck on.” She added that it was especially moving to see Gaga wear this piece for her deeply emotional rendition of the song — which some speculate will debut in the upcoming Joker 2 movie — given her personal battles she overcame in the process. After suffering a traumatic brain injury last year, Jenkinson shared that she had to relearn not only her creative process but also all her motor skills entirely. Designing for Gaga, who “really embodies strength and power” as she fights to be on stage amidst her own health battles, was a profoundly significant source of inspiration to Jenkinson. “I couldn’t even speak or talk and didn’t think I’d be able to create again. But designing for Gaga really pushed me to rebuild myself and love creating in a new way,” she shared. “It’s a part of my soul now.”
In a glistening tux, Lady Gaga took the final section to pay homage to both her hometown — with a joyous rendition of Liza Minelli’s “New York, New York” (in Ricuci earrings inspired by the dazzling city’s skyline) — and her longtime friend, Tony Bennet, with a chilling performance of one of their favourite songs, “Fly Me to the Moon.” “The real reason I’m here on this stage is because of Mr. Tony Bennet,” Gaga shared before the performance. “I’ve sung jazz since I was a little girl, but I was at an event in New York with Brian, and Tony told me, ‘you’re a jazz singer.’ There were 60 years between us, but it didn’t matter. He was such a great storyteller, one of the greatest singers on earth. That’s really what jazz is about.”
“I’d like to have a moment for my friend tonight in the spirit of his life.” And with that, the star dropped her microphone and electrified the whole theatre with the power of her unamplified voice.
While her show was provocative and playful, it was the moments of reflection, depth, and education in conjunction with the theatrics that made the night so powerful. Between outfit changes, the side screens featured black and white films in which Gaga, dressed in a Rodarte red sequin plunging halter dress or a plush black velvet column gown from Russian designer Kamilla Purshie, spoke about the history of jazz. Crediting the musicians who inspired the residency, including Billie Holiday, Etta James, and Dinah Washington, and painting an astute and full portrayal of vintage Vegas, the interludes united the past with the present, driving home the mission of the Jazz & Piano residency: to transport guests back to the glamorous Jazz age with stripped down storytelling, a melody of influences, and tons of surprising Gaga twists — paying homage to the heroes of the genre while solidifying her undeniable place in its future.
Source: https://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2024/07/24/lady-gagas-jazz-piano-fashion/
Credits:
Styled by Sandra Amador.
