SEWNmagazine

What Lady Gaga can teach a mid-life sewist about style

Okay, admit it! You had one of 2 responses to that title. Either, "who the heck is Lady Gaga?" or if you have teens or 20 somethings it was probably along the lines of "What? Like not wearing pants?"
We are not advocating that you ditch pants and walk around in dance bottoms, Well, if you have her legs maybe -but we are not responsible for you getting kicked out of the PTA or whatever. No, here are what we should take home style-wise from Lady Gaga:

Have a signature look
Don't be afraid to push the envelope
Work your accessories wall
Take really good care of your skin and hair

Have a signature look: Okay, Gaga did not make this one up. Heck, this goes back to Charles Worth, actually I suspect that there was an early hominid female that wore her hides just a little differently than the other lady hominids and eventually became a trend setter. We're girls and that is how we roll. Yes, Gaga has made not wearing pants her signature, unless you are a Pop star that probably is not going to work for you. However, if you always feel better in a pencil skirt then well, ALWAYS wear a pencil skirt. To not wear one would be like not breathing. Yes, even when you are hiking, or driving carpool, maybe especially when you are driving car pool! Or maybe you loathe skirts, feel half naked if you don't have on pants, then wear pants, yes even to your wedding! Maybe what you wear isn't as important as the color of the item. If straight up lipstick red does it for you then Pantone's color report be damned! We sew, so we can have it in any color they make fabric in. Lisette's entire wardrobe is down to 6 colors and 3 of them are black, white, and grey. The others are teal, mushroom, and flashes of red. It works year round and goes with her coloring, even if none of those are the color of the latest collections.

Don't be afraid to push the envelope: Admittedly, pushing the envelope is more of a location dependent item. If you live in NYC, it would take an awful lot to get near the edge of the envelope stylistically, in Cincinatti OH that might mean wearing red shoes with an all black outfit. When Gaga came on the scene she was thought to be crazy, at least in the clothes she wore. Did you take a look at the collections for Spring '10? Half of them had outfits with briefs as the bottoms, with a jacket like the models were going to trot off the runway into work, oh, and the 7-8" heels would have made that trot very, um, interesting, no? So what started out as a costume became couture and, trust us, you will see some one at a mall near you in briefs within the next year. Heck, it may not take that long. This is why it is better to set style than to follow it. Gaga looks edgy and original if a little odd (okay, maybe alot odd) but the poor 16 year old buying the look from Forever 21 is just a fashion victim and we are old enough to know better.

Work your accessories wall: Oooh, writing that made us feel all Tim Gunn season 3! Let's face it clothes are only half the battle. Once you get yourself covered you need to dress it up a little. Even Jil Sander sells accessories? If the thought of changing jewelry with every outfit terrifies you or worse brings up images of your mother and not in a good way, then maybe a scarf is your cuppa. If even that makes you cringe then wild shoes, a statement bag or always carrying an umbrella could be. We are big fans of wild shoes and have an admitted weakness for red shoes and zebra print (don't ask!) especially if you are like way too many and your wardrobe is relentless black. Wild shoes give you pop but being so far from your face don't "wear" you. Notice we said STATEMENT bag, not "it" bag. One of our favorite summer statement bags is an old leather tote from the Gap in pool blue. Despite the fact that it goes with nothing, it somehow goes with everything and gets tons of compliments to boot. If you are not jewelry phobic, wear what you love fashion be damned, that said we are of the opinion that "ditsy little real" is inferior to "sumptuous luxe fake" If Lanvin can show off "pearls" the size of ping pong balls, our gumball sized fakes are going to look just fine at the next party. On that note, stand by for a no sew how to make your own statement necklace from stuff you probably have sitting around. Hey, if you go for the umbrella option we want pictures because we bet you look fabulous!

Take really good care of your hair and skin: Gaga is half naked most of the time, we're betting you are not but getting a great hair cut and making sure you take off your makeup isn't going to hurt your look no matter what it is. The fact is that with all of our responsibilities it is easy to let things go too long. Hey, we don't make a living off of our bodies! 'Course it would be nice to feel pampered... Just DO IT! A good hair cut cost the same as a bad hair cut and pays dividends in getting out the door faster in the morning. Getting a weekly massage and facial is not on our calendar any time soon but we can use stuff on our face that doesn't make a problem worse or even, heaven forbid, spend 2 extra minutes at night to really clean our faces and dab a little moisturizer on. Good skin means less makeup, less makeup is usually a better look on everybody. If you can pull off the "hair" bow, you are better women than we.

So you may never wear a sparkler spitting bra, or razor blade sunglasses, or have Alexander McQueen loan you shoes but that doesn't mean you can't learn a little something from the Lady.