Lady Gaga has been wowing the world with her insane performances and head-to-toe fantastical looks from the moment she burst on to the music scene in 2008, and jewellery has always firmly been a part of her self-mythologising 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 jewellery to her adoption of a more refined aesthetic, Vogue takes a look back at her most incredible jewellery moments and proves yet again why the performer is a living legend.
This story first appeared on vogue.co.uk
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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.
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August 2009
Arriving at Tokyo airport in 2009, Lady Gaga channeled a Desperately Seeking Susan-era Madonna with armfuls of punky studded leather bracelets.
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September 2009
In her iconic performance of “Paparazzi” at the VMAs in 2009, Gaga passed damning comment on the state of celebrity media in the 2000s. Through the course of the performance, she transforms from a Marilyn Monroe-style starlet all in white—complete with mask and strings of pearls—and ends up a bloody victim of her fame.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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January 2018
At the Grammys, the performer went full Dracula’s bride, all in black except for her white blonde hair, including her dramatic 200-carat black diamond and blackened gold chandelier earrings by Lorraine Schwartz.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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May 2019
At the Met Gala, co-host Lady Gaga wowed the crowd on the red carpet with a 15 minute performance that saw her reveal different layers of her Brandon Maxwell ensemble one by one, from voluminous fuchsia pink gown all the way down to crystal-embellished underwear. The one constant throughout: her Tiffany butterfly necklace, the perfect match for her winged gold eyelashes.
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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.”
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September 2021
As she enters awards season once more with the upcoming premiere of House of Gucci, Lady Gaga reprised old Hollywood glamour at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala in Los Angeles. She paired custom Schiaparelli Couture with shoulder-dusting Chopard earrings.
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November 2021
For the London premiere of the much-anticipated House of Gucci, the performer wore an iconic gold, platinum and diamond necklace by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany together with Tiffany diamond earrings.
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November 2021
Only Messika diamonds could match the dazzle of Gaga’s Valentino sequined gown at the Los Angeles premiere of House of Gucci.
