“I have always felt that makeup is a form of expression and since I was 17 I have liked to experiment with it,” says Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta, New York, 38 years old) on the other side of the screen in a video call. “The first time I painted myself I did it with what I found in my mother’s drawer and then I did it with whatever I could afford. I went to a school where it was prohibited, so when I left there I was eager to try. When I started performing in nightclubs in New York I used it to find a new me. It was a way to understand my identity. A way to feel safer than ever. I was very insecure in those years and makeup helped me feel powerful.”
She is no stranger to the contradictions that surround these pigments: “Women are taught from a young age that wearing makeup is part of how we should move through the world, but if we use too much our values are questioned,” she says. The star has turned to fashion and beauty to reinvent herself countless times throughout her career. From her beginnings in the world of music (with her eccentric public appearances or her hypnotic video clips) to the more contained version of herself recently, focused on performance. Precisely in this facet she now shoots her next film with Joaquin Phoenix, Joker: Folie à Deux, in which she will be Harley Quinn. In recent times it is common to see her on the red carpet emulating the glamor of golden Hollywood, like when she collected the Oscar from her in 2019, inspired by Audrey Hepburn. On her shelf there are also, among others, 13 Grammy Awards, 10 Billboard Music Awards, two Golden Globes and a Bafta.
Women are taught from a young age that wearing makeup is part of how we should move through the world, but if we use too much our values are questioned.
Lady Gaga
She speaks enthusiastically about her beauty line, Haus Labs by Lady Gaga, which has just landed simultaneously at Sephora in 12 European countries, including Spain. Getting to talk to her is not easy. After several months of emails coming and going or appointment date changes, her team explains that “LG has decided that she prefers to talk to several media outlets at once (including S Fashion exclusively for Spain), to have more time.” During the interview it is clear that he needs it, because he expresses himself with passion at length about ingredients or formulations. If anyone can afford it, it’s her. Also choose the topics to discuss: “LG likes your question about its concept of beauty.” And, if LG wants it, this journalist is not going to disagree:
Q: You have been working in front of the cameras for almost two decades, how has your notion of beauty evolved in this time?
A: When I started my career, being conventionally beautiful didn’t work for me. I focused a lot more on my art, being interesting and pushing boundaries. I have always been someone who has rebelled against the rules of femininity and patriarchy. That was always a part of me, but as I grew up and the world changed, it became clear that we live in a time where aesthetics are considered a kind of currency. I don’t look down on people who celebrate their aesthetics, because I think it’s another way of art and of approaching life.
Today, he defends, consumer focus is more than ever on the effectiveness and safety of cosmetics, as a consequence of the pandemic: “People want to use products that are innovative, that contain science and that are good for them. During covid, self-care became essential. Thanks to vaccines we now listen to scientists. There is a combination of cultural change and people demanding to know what they are putting on their faces. I think that’s where beauty is headed today, to smart, high-performance products.”
His relationship with this industry is not recent, it goes back a long way. In 2012 he launched his Fame fragrance with Coty and in 2014 he expanded the range with Eau de Gaga. She started makeup in 2019, with Haus Laboratories, but that first approach didn’t quite fit. Without complexes, the diva had no qualms about erasing to start again in 2022 with the current brand. A complete change of products and positioning: five years ago, for example, she relied on Amazon for distribution and With Haus Labs, it has preferred to bet on Sephora, much more reputable in the sector. On its shelves it shares space with some of the most desired brands of the moment.
The makeup formulas, infused with the treatment’s own principles, are the basis of everything this time: “For years I used arnica to combat inflammation in my body and joint pain, so I wondered if it could also have a significant impact on the skin. We fermented it and saw that it was even more powerful, capable of reducing redness. “We want people to feel good when they apply the product, that the art is in the formulation and that it is sufficiently powerful.” At the moment it has convinced social networks, which is no small thing, who declare themselves conquered by the pigmentation and duration of its products. “It was very important to me to build a brand that was meaningful. I didn’t want to sell my look or that people bought it to imitate my appearance. “I wanted to create something that was more of an artifact of my vision of beauty.”
Its cocktail of active ingredients, pending patenting, is present in the foundation, Triclone Skin Tech Foundation, to which the star declares herself addicted: “I use my makeup base and concealer all day, even to sleep. Skincare to me is something that goes beyond washing your face in the morning and applying cream, or using your oils and serums before going to sleep. For me it’s an all-day process, but I feel like skin research platforms have been notoriously unsophisticated and it’s hard to know what you’re putting on. She says it on the jar, you have an idea, but there’s not really anything really articulated about what’s good for you and what’s not. So in my routine I use a very simple cleanser and a facial oil with fermented arnica that was developed for me by a laboratory I trust.”
Formulas, technology, clean ingredients and science are repeated incessantly until the end of his speech, when he ends by apologizing for so many technicalities. Because if anything is clear after chatting with the interpreter, it is that she has spent countless hours in the laboratory: “There is a lot of data, so I am going to ask that they send you all the information about the ingredients in writing,” she says. The next morning the email from his team arrives on time: “Here is all the technical information that LG wants you to have.”
