http://vmagazine.com/site/content/48...mate-interview
Brandon, you’re Lady Gaga’s stylist, but would you two call each other colleagues or friends?
BRANDON MAXWELL I’d say friends, right?
LADY GAGA Friends, totally friends. “Colleagues” feels so polite.
Gaga, Brandon has been styling and creating custom looks for you for some time. What draws you to his work and aesthetic?
LG: I am attracted to people that have very interesting minds and have a bravery within them. Brandon has an incredibly interesting and complicated mind and I feel that I identify with him in a lot of ways. Watching him make the decision that it was time to put his collection out and seeing the way that his personal life and his life experiences aligned with his decision to make the collection, I just knew how authentic it was. And I’ve always known him to be a talent. What can I say? I’m attracted to geniuses, and that’s how I feel about Brandon. I just want to be near him all the time because he inspires me so much.
Brandon, how did you tell Gaga that you were going to launch your line?
BM: We probably talked about it a million years ago. I don’t know that we ever sat down and had a conversation about it but…
LG: Yes we did!
BM: Ok, but I feel like it was a natural progression. When I was very young and working with Nicola [Formichetti] and Gaga, I learned very quickly that everything didn’t have to be like, look 1, look 22, or whatever. Instead, it was like, Ok, make it on set, sew it now, glue it together, cut this top and put it with this pant. It was like my master’s education. And so when I wanted to start designing clothes, she was just like, “Do it.” And I’d make it and I would say, Oh, you don’t have to wear it. You’re not obligated to wear it. But every time she would wear it, and she made me feel like it was the only thing that she wanted to wear, like it was the only thing in the room that made her feel beautiful.
LG: And that’s so true. What he said about how I feel when I put his clothes on is absolutely true. I always saw in him, as did Inez and Vinoodh, when he’s working and styling, we’ve always seen his eye for silhouette and the woman’s body, and his ability to make a woman look like a woman in that kind of timeless, classic way. I remember when the first dress he made me arrived. I was in Belgium, and I opened it, and it was packaged so beautifully in a box, and it had all of the accessories with it with a beautiful matching turban. It was a beautiful blue velvet gown with a handmade corset. It was made perfectly and I know that because I wear Donatella’s gowns made by Luigi [Massi], and I wear Gianni’s gowns also made by Luigi. And I wear Alaïa’s clothes and I wear McQueen’s clothes—I know. I don’t bull**** and he knows that, and I just started crying because I had it in my hands and I turned it around and it said Brandon Maxwell on the label in the back.
BM: And it was my 30th birthday.
LG: It was such a powerful moment. And he always sends me a beautiful card with it. He is my best friend, and he sends me handwritten notes. Like, who does that? Seriously. And he always says, “Made by my hands with love.” It’s so beautiful. And I knew in that moment that he had everything it took to be a great designer.
BM: She gave me so much confidence. She supported me in a very public way and told me to jump off the ledge. She gave me the fuel that I needed to do what I did last night.
Gaga, can you tell me about the moment when Brandon revealed he was launching his line?
LG: I have to tell this story because it’s so true it’s funny. Brandon sat me down, we were having drinks and smoking cigarettes, and he was like, “Okay. I had an epiphany over the weekend and I need to discuss it with you.” I thought he was going to say something super terrifying and my stomach was turning and I was like, Oh God, is he okay? And he goes, “I think I’m going to be a designer. I’m going to make my first collection.” So I started laughing because he literally said it to me like I had no idea that he wanted to do this. It was like he was just telling mom one day, “Hey, Mommy, I’m gonna quit school and be an artist.” And it reminded me of what I said to my parents, and my parents cried at the table when I told them at 19 that I was leaving. But when he told me, I laughed and said, “****ing finally.” That’s it, and that’s very his personality. Brandon is a nice person, and has no clue how smart he is, so he’s just doing this because he has to, because he’ll die if he doesn’t make clothes. That’s his passion, and everything else doesn’t matter.
Gaga, I heard that you were extremely hands-on when it came to helping Brandon with his show.
BM: The night before, we had a family dinner with everybody. She was there, and it was all my best friends from growing up and all my best friends now and I was talking about how I went to an art school in Texas, and I was up all night in the studio creating with people, and it was very collaborative. It was very pure and harmonious. When I moved to New York to go into fashion, I obviously didn’t think it was a business that’s really known for its friendliness, although everyone that I’ve encountered thankfully has been.
LG: You only work with people that are nice. You don’t engage with people who aren’t. That’s sort of our thing. If somebody’s not open and completely loving, it’s not our bag. We like people that are ready to dive into the pool of art with us.
BM: I met [Lady Gaga] very quickly after I moved to New York. And what I was saying when I was with my family and friends, the people who supported me growing up and collaborated with me and helped me get to this place, is that when I met [Lady Gaga], it felt like she was a sister. I’m very fortunate to have already had a career, but I did feel pressure if I’m being honest. And to have somebody hold my hand the entire way is incredible. Obviously she comes into the studio a lot, and we FaceTime every morning about the collection. But she also put her pajamas on and sat there for three whole days for 24 hours, and she stayed up while I got to go to sleep. The day of the show, she went to the venue and dealt with everything. And when I walked in, everything was done for me, down to the minute. Not to be too religious or anything, but you really have to thank God for people like that because it’s not something that a lot of people have in their lives.
LG: I just love him so much. I feel like his mom in a weird way. I’m so close to him that I don’t know how to not be there. It almost felt like my child leaving for college or something and I wanted him to have everything that he wanted. So we made a list of everything and all day we just made sure that we did everything we needed to facilitate his vision. We didn’t make the show. Brandon made the show. And we wanted him to have a clear head. You know I really wanted him to be as peaceful as possible so that when he was backstage with the models dressing them that he could put on his stylist’s hat and enjoy that moment and be proud. It was a beautiful experience, and all I could do was be there for him the way that I know that he has been there for me every day for the past 5 years of my life. Every day. When I couldn’t get out of bed, when I couldn’t leave the house because I was afraid of people because I wasn’t comfortable being famous yet, when I was feeling sick, when I was injured, when I became depressed, when I had a breakup, through all that, he came to me because he never wanted anyone to see what was happening. He wanted to protect me and to let me know that there would always be someone there to lift me up forever. And what am I as a ****ing artist if I don’t give that right back to him. He knows I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t believe in him, but my God, I just told him this morning that If he doesn’t give me one of those dresses for the Emmys I’m gonna cry. It’s gonna be a whole thing. I love it and I love him. I feel like I watched him become a man.
Gaga, do you have a favorite look from the collection?
LG: I actually love the entire collection and I keep begging him to sell it to me. I want one of each piece, because I want to archive it. It’s a tradition. You know Isabella Blow bought Alexander McQueen’s entire first collection and I really want to do that. I did that for Nicola [Formichetti] as well with Mugler. So for me, it’s not about one piece. And that’s really what I would say about Brandon Maxwell as a designer is that it’s a total type of a woman and a lifestyle. It’s a garment you can trust will always be there for you to make you feel your best.
After working so closely with Brandon, what was going through your head while watching the show?
LG: It really felt like it was like the fashion rat pack of my life, you know? It was me, Nicola, Brandon, Inez & Vinoodh, Stephen Gan…these are people that I have had in my life for many years now and that I have experienced so much with and they all came together. I also have to say that James Scully and Stephen Galloway were so magnificent. They really, really embraced us young kids trying to make it in fashion and they embraced somebody that I loved so much. It was inspiring and it reminded me why I love fashion and why I love artists because, you know, we’re not like other people. We don’t dream when we’re asleep. We dream when we’re awake. And that’s what that show was. I saw Brandon’s dream while we were all awake. It was amazing.
