Nicola Formichetti (; born 31 May 1977) is a fashion director and fashion editor. Born in Japan, he is most widely known as the artistic director of the Italian fashion label Diesel and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter Lady Gaga.Lord Gaga: The Man Behind the Meat Dress , Rachel Dodes (The Wall Street Journal). 5 March 2011. He worked two years (September 2010 – April 2013) with the French fashion house Mugler as artistic director.
Formichetti is also known as fashion director of Vogue Hommes Japan, is a contributing editor of several other fashion magazines and is fashion director for the clothing company Uniqlo.Power of the Cyberimage , Suzy Menkes (The New York Times). 19 January 2011. In November 2010 he was named one of the "most influential creative forces working in fashion today".BoF Exclusive | The New Creative Establishment 2010 – The 50 Most Creative Forces Working in Fashion Today , Imran Amed (The Business of Fashion). 23 November 2010. The following month he was awarded the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator at the 2010 British Fashion Awards.Isabella Blow Award – Fashion Creator 2010
Early life The son of a Japanese stewardess and an Italian pilot, Formichetti was born in Japan and grew up in Rome and Tokyo,Profile of Nicola Formichetti at Mugler.com attempting to assimilate in both cultures. As a child he trained as a classical pianist (and still plays for relaxation). But moving to London became his great desire and he used the excuse of attending an architecture school to which he was accepted in order to get there.In the magazine: Nicola Formichetti , Interview by Sam Voulters (Vice). March 2011. Formichetti has explained that instead of attending he "literally walked in the front door of the architecture school and then ran out of the back one to go clubbing for three years." He became a student of the nightlife and street fashions, and began working at a fashionable boutique called 'The Pineal Eye' where he would become art director and head buyer for two years. Formichetti is openly gay.
Career While working at 'The Pineal Eye' Formichetti was spotted by fashion editor Katy England and she offered him a monthly page at Dazed & Confused called "Eye Spy," and after being named the magazine's fashion director in 2005 would eventually be promoted to become its creative director 2008.Dressing Miss Gaga , David Colman (W). July 2011.Meet Mr. Gaga | The Stylist Nicola Formichetti , Marcus Chang (T Magazine / The New York Times). 4 January 2010. His work at Dazed & Confused led to other fashion magazines, including V, Another Magazine, Arena Homme +, and Harper's Bazaar USA. Among fashion designers he has worked with Kim Jones, collaborating with him on his collections and shows, and has worked with fashion houses such as Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Gareth Pugh, Carri "Cassette Playa" Mundane, Prada, Missoni, Iceberg, and brands such as Nike, Umbro, Puma, Stüssy, Topman, H&M, and Edwin. Among fashion photographers Formichetti has worked with Nick Knight, Hedi Slimane, Terry Richardson, Steven Klein, and Oliviero Toscani, as well as others.
Lady Gaga
2009–2012 Formichetti is a prominent member of Lady Gaga's creative team, the Haus of Gaga. His collaboration with Lady Gaga as her stylist or fashion director began in early May 2009 at a shoot with photographer Sebastian Faena for the July 2009 issue of V Magazine (V60), Formichetti saying that "It was an instant love." This was soon followed by a cover shoot for V61 (September issue) with Mario Testino.V61 Fall 2009 The following June he was fashion director for her performance at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards,nicolaformichetti.com/celebrity and nicolaformichetti.blogspot.com and following that for the majority of Lady Gaga's important performances and appearances in the second half of 2009, including at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September, where she appeared in four dresses by Jean-Paul Gaultier and one by Alexander McQueen, then on Saturday Night Live in October, where she appeared in a metal orb structure designed by Nazir Mazhar, and later at the Royal Variety Performance in December, where she appeared in a latex dress, by Atsuko Kudo, designed to resemble those worn by Elizabeth I, for Gaga's introduction to her namesake Elizabeth II. In the fall she also appeared in the third volume of Vogue Hommes Japan, the editorial titled "Lady Gaga & Araki's Tokyo Love" shot by Nobuyoshi Araki, with fashion direction by Formichetti."Lady Gaga & Araki's Tokyo Love", Vogue Hommes Japan VOL. 3 , Photography by Nobuyoshi Araki and fashion direction by Nicola Formichetti. 2009. Their first collaboration in a music video together, for "Bad Romance",Fashion 2.0 | The Holy Trinity: Fashion, Music and Film , Imran Amed (The Business of Fashion). 7 December 2009. directed by Francis Lawrence, would later be voted Video of the Year and then win the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. In this Gaga appears in several outfits and footwear by Alexander McQueen, reappears in the orb by Nazir Mazhar, as well as in a "diamond crown" outfit by Franc Fernandez, and one by her creative team—the Haus of Gaga—among other pieces. Formichetti is also credited as stylist for her album The Fame Monster (shot by Hedi Slimane),The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga. Interscope Records (B0013535-72). 2009. and has been fashion director for her sold-out The Monster Ball Tour.
2010 In late January 2010 Formichetti was stylist/fashion director for Lady Gaga's music video for her song "Telephone", directed by Jonas Åkerlund, which was released in March. Immediately after this video was filmed came her appearance at the 52nd Grammy Awards (where Gaga performed with Elton John), for which Formichetti was also fashion director. In February he was fashion director again for her appearance at the 2010 BRIT Awards, where she dedicated her performance to their friend Alexander McQueen, who had committed suicide only five days earlier. Following their collaboration for several more appearances and performances over the next months came Formichetti's styling for her video for "Alejandro",Lady Gaga – Alejandro – Fashion Credits , Swide. 9 June 2010. directed by his collaborator in the past Steven Klein, and for the associated cover shoot by Terry Richardson for the mid-July issue of Rolling Stone. Her American Idol performance of "Alejandro" in early May was also styled by Formichetti. Among other projects, next came the styling for Richardson's shoot of Gaga (in a meat bikini) and Nick Knight's shoot of model Jo Calderone (Gaga in "drag") for the fifth volume of Vogue Hommes Japan.Vogue Hommes Japan VOL. 5 Around the same time Richardson shot Gaga as styled by Formichetti for the company Supreme NYC, but the shoot would wait until 2011 to be released both in the Supreme ad campaign and in the French magazine Purple.Elle Fashion News , Elle. 7 February 2011. Knight then photographed her again, styled by Formichetti, for the upcoming September issue of Vanity Fair. In August the three would appear yet again in collaboration for the 30th birthday issue of the magazine i-D (the shoot itself actually dating from 2009), Formichetti also giving a short interview for the Gaga piece following hers. Then in September came her celebrated appearance, for which he did the styling, at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, where she wore (among other outfits) the famous "meat dress" by Franc Fernandez.Was Lady Gaga's VMA Meat Dress Real? , Sharon Clott (MTV Style). 13 September 2010. Also in September the Fall issue of V Magazine (V67) appeared on newsstands, with Gaga, styled by Formichetti and shot by Mario Testino, on the cover with Marc Jacobs.V67 Fall 2010
At the end of 2010 she was named Best-Dressed of the Year by Vogue.And It's Lady Gaga by a Mile: The Outré Original Wins Best-Dressed of the Year , Rebecca Bengal (Vogue). 23 December 2010.
2011 After several months largely out of the spotlight (except on tour) Gaga returned in January 2011 to begin the serious promotion for her upcoming album Born This Way and Formichetti has been fashion director for the project. The music video for the title track "Born This Way" was directed later in January by Nick Knight, with Formichetti responsible for the styling. In February came her performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards where they collaborated with designer Hussein Chalayan on her appearance and performance.Lady Gaga's Egg-Citing Grammy Awards Costume , Jessica Derschowitz (CBS News). 13 February 2011.2011 Grammy Awards Look By Look: Lady Gaga Gets Delivered, Ayren Jackson-Cannady (MTV Style). 14 February 2011. Gaga, interested in the concept of rebirth, sent Formichetti a picture of a human embryo, and he was first inspired to create, as he told her, "egg [shaped] shoes—like you were born that way, with eggs as feet." She took the idea further, resulting in the egg or "vessel" (designed by Chalayan) in which she was carried down the red carpet and later onto the stage, hatching out in a yolk-coloured latex outfit to perform her new single "Born This Way". She was wearing, as he tweeted, "Mugler by Nicola Formichetti." A "Born This Way"-associated shoot called "Alien Excess" done in January by photographer Mariano Vivanco for the Spring 2011 (March) issue of i-D features Gaga in a latex coat from the new Mugler menswear collection, with Formichetti responsible for the styling.Alien Excess , in i-D, Issue 312 – Spring 2011. Published 22 March 2011. A shot from the same session with Vivanco, but with different styling, also by Formichetti, appeared on the cover of Billboard in February.Lady Gaga 'Born This Way' Cover Story , Interview by Bill Werde (Billboard). 18 February 2011.
He has also done Gaga's styling (shot by Nick Knight) for her as spokesperson for the MAC Viva Glam Campaign of the MAC AIDS Fund., Jocelyn Vena (MTV). 24 February 2011. A new project called "The Masterpiece" has been announced in which Formichetti will collaborate with her for MAC to create a "wearable piece of art" composed of the profile photos of fans who join the campaign.
2012 On 23 October 2012 in a Huffington Post interview, Formichetti was mentioned by fashion photographer Lope Navo: "I bumped into then-stylist Nicola Formicetti in B Bar in NYC randomly and he told me he saw the first cover I shot in Milan for Rodeo magazine of Seijo Imazaki. He said he loved it and we have been in touch ever since. He gave me so much advice about my work."
2020 Formichetti and Gaga's collaboration was revived in 2020, when he was fashion director in the production of Gaga's sixth studio album, Chromatica.
2021 In order to realize a series of photos as well as a fashion film, released on 6 April, he collaborated with Gaga and Nick Knight for a Dom Pérignon's commercial, titled "The Queendom".
Mugler After months of rumors, in September 2010 Formichetti was announced as the new creative director for the Parisian fashion house founded by the celebrated designer Thierry Mugler (who has largely retired from the business), which he has renamed Mugler. He has said that it was in fact Lady Gaga who persuaded him to go for the job, when they were looking through pieces from the Mugler archive when shooting the video for "Telephone".At Mugler, Genius and Its Limits , Cathy Horyn (The New York Times). 23 March 2011. At Mugler Formichetti oversees designers Sébastien Peigné for womenswear and Romain Kremer for menswear.Formichetti For Mugler , Ella Alexander (Vogue). 13 September 2010. Joël Palix, director general of the company, said "We were looking for a young talent who could really bring energy to the brand ... Nicola is a multicultural, techno-savvy expert involved in fashion, communication, image and entertainment. He and the appointed talented designers will represent a new direction for French fashion. Nicola Formichetti leaves MUGLER on April 2, 2013. "