Photo: Getty
Lady Gaga has been wowing the world with her bold performances and head-to-toe fantastical looks from the moment she burst on to the music scene in 2008, and jewelry has always firmly been a part of her self-mythologizing role-play – whether she is spinning a tale of outrageous avant-garde or full-blown Hollywood glamour. From her early homemade looks and dramatic costume jewelry to her adoption of a more refined aesthetic, Vogue takes a look back at her most incredible jewelry moments and proves yet again why the performer is a living legend.
2008. In this early TV appearance, a hint of Lady Gaga’s future avant-garde style is on view with her giant kawaii hair-bow and crystal shoulder piece. An oversized crystal ring provides the finishing touch. Photo: Getty
August 2009. Arriving at Tokyo airport in 2009, Lady Gaga channeled a Desperately Seeking Susan-era Madonna with armfuls of punky studded leather bracelets. Photo: Getty
2010. Lady Gaga made sartorial history at the MTV Video Music Awards by appearing in this now iconic dress, designed by Franc Fernandez – but how do you accessorise a gown made from fresh meat? With a neck and arms full of crystals, of course. Photo: Getty
September 2012. For the launch of Fame, her first perfume in 2012, Lady G fully committed as always to the task in hand. From her adorned beehive to her earrings, her jewellery channeled the black and gold design of the fragrance bottle. Photo: Getty
October 2012. For the London launch of the fragrance, she preempted the body jewellery craze that was to come with bejewelled fingers and matching talons dripping in gold. Photo: Getty
February 2015. A more glamorous Gaga emerges as the years go by. For the Grammys in 2015, she went for the green goddess contrast of silver couture and giant emeralds, the latter provided by Lorraine Schwartz. Photo: Getty
February 2015. Taylor Kinney proposed to Gaga on Valentine’s Day 2015 with a six- to eight-carat heart-shaped diamond by Lorraine Schwartz. She shared their happy news on Instagram. The couple split up in the summer of 2016. Photo: Instagram.com
2016. Only white diamonds would do for her (almost) demure look with a Marilyn Monroe-inspired blonde coiffure and make-up at the Golden Globes, where Gaga took home the prize for Best Performance in a Miniseries or Television Film for American Horror Story: Hotel. Photo: Getty
September 2018. The monochrome look was reversed for the Toronto Film Festival screening of A Star is Born that October. Giant white diamond earrings by Chopard stand out majestically against an all-black Armani Privé look. Called the Gardens of Kalahari earrings, they centre on a 25-carat pear-shaped diamond on one side and a 26-carat heart-shaped diamond on the other. The earrings were also worn by Charlize Theron at the 2017 Oscars. Photo: Getty
September 2018. Her engagement ring from ex-fiancé Christian Carino was in the same traditional cluster setting style as Lady Diana Spencer’s engagement ring, but in true Lady Gaga fashion, it was supersized and in a cartoonish pink. Opinion was divided over whether it was a pink sapphire or diamond. Photo: Getty
January 2019. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Gaga channeled sophisticated glamour with a diamond, platinum and gold choker with heart and star motifs and butterfly wing gold and diamond earrings from the 2019 Tiffany Blue Book collection alongside several Tiffany T bracelets. Photo: Getty
February 2019. For the Oscars, Lady Gaga wore the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond, one of the largest yellow diamonds in the world. Rarely seen out in public since Charles Lewis Tiffany acquired it in 1878, it had last been worn by Audrey Hepburn in a Breakfast at Tiffany’s promotional shoot. It has since had another outing in this year’s About Love campaign starring Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Photo: Getty
January 2021. For her performance of the American national anthem at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Lady Gaga wore a brooch specially designed for the occasion by Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry. The giant gilded dove of peace spoke volumes about the performer’s feelings on the occasion, and demonstrated the power of a jewel to convey a message. “Jewellery is there to heighten the fantasy of haute couture,” Roseberry told me at the time. “It reminds me a lot of decorating a room. It’s the chandelier that brings the room alive.” Photo: Getty
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk