During the height of Lady Gaga’s Fame Monster era back in the late 2000s, I was a teenager in high school that was all-in on grungy Tumblr dressing. Just like Mother Monster herself, I prided myself on wearing punky, rocker, and even slightly gothic outfits that were heavy on black. You could simply not catch me wearing a bright color. During the superstar’s Monster Ball Tour in 2010, I distinctly remember buying a vintage oversized cross necklace to pair with my ripped black skinny jeans and mesh shirt. At the time, Gaga’s avant-garde approach to rocking a colorless wardrobe was the height of cool. And now, more than a decade later, we are so back.
Throughout the past month, Gaga has been busy promoting her new album, Mayhem, that is releasing on Friday—and the superstar has ushered in a new fashion era with it. Well, not so much a new era, as it is a return to her signature all-black dressing. This time around, it feels entirely fresh and modern for the times. Just this week, Gaga was spotted out for dinner in New York City with her fiancé, Michael Polansky, wearing a cargo leather jacket from Phoebe Philo—the stealth-wealth designer that all of fashion is obsessed with at the moment. Last month, Gaga was also spotted in a long, buttoned-up coat from Khaite, which she paired with a long, sweeping gown.
Gaga’s approach to a more dark, romantic sartorial aesthetic has also extended to her recent red carpet moments. At the 2025 Grammy Awards, the singer hit the step and repeat in a Victorian-style jacket and voluminous ball skirt made by the Australia-Taiwanese designer Samuel Lewis. There is something haunting, yet chic, about her approach to all-black dressing; it proves that you can make a statement and have level-100 aura points without having to rock a bold print or flashy color. Sometimes, less is way more. It’s also an approach that we’ve been seeing on the fall 2025 runways this Fashion Month: Labels such as Alaïa, Prada, and Jil Sander have zeroed in on designs that forgo bold hues and focus on interesting textures or fabrications instead.
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