Born This Way Ball Jacket

As most Monsters do, I'm getting dressed up to see my favourite artist Lady Gaga when she goes on tour this year. Rumour has it that she'll be in England this summer, but I've been planning, designing, and making my outfit since the end of last year. Why so early? Because it's going to take forever to complete.

The star of my outfit will be my Born This Way jacket. From watching videos of the Monster Ball and footage of Gaga's performances, it's easy to notice her fans mimicking couture favourites and past video looks. I thought for my first concert, I'd combine both my favourite aspects of the Lady's fashion with my own sense of "style", you know, to make it original and fitting with the Born This Way message.

To start, I took inspiration from Gaga's amaazing studded leather jackets. These are two of my all-time favourites:

Left: 2011, MTV Music Aid in Japan. Right: "Telephone" video, 2010.

Excuse me while I wipe the saliva from my keyboard... Ahem, so, anyway, I adore her studded leather jackets and to be honest, all the other leather jackets in her wardrobe. The jacket I'm making however is denim, after also being inspired by the recent Marry The Night video and my favourite quote:

"You may say I lost everything... But I still had my Bedazzler."

In August last year on a whim I picked up a tight denim waistcoat from H&M in France. I wasn't too fussy about the quality for the first time in my life, so ended up spending less than £10 just for something cowboy-ish to wear while it was hot in a desperate attempt to tan my milky arms. Since coming home it's hung uselessly in my wardrobe as I transitioned to fully sleeved denim for English weather, until the idea to stud it for the Born This Way Ball magically struck.

My plan was to combine the studs from her leather and the denim from Marry The Night, to create my interpretation of a "Heavy Metal Lover" look. The shoulders are almost finished being covered in big, shiny, metal studs, and I'm covering the rest in patches inspired by Gaga songs and if I have room, the bands I love too. On the back, in big, bold, black lettering, is going to read BORN THIS WAY, ironed over the top of splashes of silver fabric paint. As a proud English monster, the first patch I've bought is a Union Jack to stitch right on the front. On the opposite side, I'm buying bronze studs and pressing an upside-down Judas-esque cross.

Here's a semi recent picture I took of my jacket so far. After planning and searching for the patches, measuring the jacket and getting ideas, I'm on my way in studding the shoulders and have purchased the first patch. More pictures of my progress to come! Wish me luck!