The ego has la Nded
... at Luton airport, even though she staged a fake arrival at Heathrow. Then Lady Gaga’s trip to Britain got REALLY bizarre
lADY Gaga created quite a scene as she waltzed through Heathrow’s arrivals hall in a sequin, frontless Atelier Versace jumpsuit which, like so many of her outfits, failed to cover a strappy corset bra.
Teetering on the 6 in heels of her £770 Alaia ankle boots, she pouted for the paparazzi before pausing to exchange air kisses with several dozen shrieking fans, who had learned via Twitter of her imminent presence at London’s busiest airport.
As the hysteria began to peak, and the noisy crowd began to approach mob-like proportions, the 27-year-old singer’s sharpelbowed head security man, Peter Van der Veen, waded into the fray and ushered her into a silver Mercedes.
It was ‘job done’ for Lady Gaga, whose flamboyant arrival in Britain on Tuesday was reported by scores of glossy magazines and showbusiness websites, along with fashion blogs who dutifully sang the praises of her revealing haute couture ensemble.
Yet, as ever with pop’s most headline-prone star, there was more to this supposedly impromptu media circus than met the eye.
Indeed, Gaga’s supposed arrival at Heathrow appears to have been nothing more than a carefully — some might say cynically — contrived publicity stunt.
For I gather that the singer, who had flown to Britain from New York, had actually landed her private jet at the rather less glamorous Luton airport, 35 miles away.
She was then driven by motorway before being sneaked into Heathrow’s Terminal Five, where several photographers — and scores of fans — had been told to expect a suitably show-stopping appearance.
‘It’s almost impossible to go by private jet to
One fan, a 6ft-tall transvestite, was hit by a double-decker
Heathrow these days because there are very few spare landing slots,’ says one photographer. ‘So the most media-savvy stars are starting to come in via Luton and then do a “walkthrough” at Heathrow for the cameras.’
Airport officials wouldn’t discuss details of Gaga’s appearance, but a spokesman said: ‘In exceptional circumstances, Heathrow can facilitate the use of arrivals if someone has not flown in directly.’
Another snapper told me that leading picture agencies were briefed in advance. ‘We were told not to waste time going to Luton on Tuesday, as she would guarantee we got decent shots at Heathrow,’ he said.
‘It might sound like a charade, but this kind of arrangement is better for everyone. We know we’ll get clear pictures and she is able to ensure maximum publicity on her own terms.’
Ensuring maximum publicity seems to be at the top of Lady Gaga’s agenda during this six- day visit, which culminates with a concert in London tomorrow night. Indeed, as so often during her stellar career, the Poker Face singer — who was born Stefani Germanotta — has at times seemed almost desperate to be noticed.
Take the spectacle I witnessed on Thursday outside the Langham Hotel near Oxford Circus, where suites cost £1,400 a night and Gaga is believed to have rented an entire floor.
At 5pm, 100 fans, who have been camped outside the front door for most of the week, were approached by aides and informed that the singer would be imminently treating them to a public appearance.
Minutes later, her wealthy parents, Cynthia and Joe Germanotta, emerged and got into a Mercedes, amid a chorus of screams and cries of ‘ Happy birthday!’ (Cynthia turned 59 this week).
Gaga, for her part, waited for anticipation to build to a crescendo before emerging on to the hotel steps in a black leather, hook-studded trouser suit, teamed with a bizarre pair of John Lennon-style specs with green crystal lenses.
Instead of joining her parents in the car, she staged an impromptu walkabout, cocooning herself within a cordon of six bodyguards, to stroll a hundred yards to the nearby HQ of BBC radio, where she was due to give an interview.
The effect was akin to dropping an open honeypot into a swarm of bees. Within seconds, a chaotic mob of fans and hangers-on had blocked the Regent Street rush-hour traffic, shrieking, weeping, and jostling — in some cases violently — for a chance to see or even touch their idol.
One fan — a 6ft transvestite — was knocked to the ground by a double- decker bus. A teenage girl with pink hair suffered a cut lip. Several screamed that they were being trampled, pushed and elbowed.
Some seemed traumatised; a few burst into tears. After the chaos cleared, they sat on the pavement in small groups, comforting each other.
This dangerous melee might, of course, have been easily avoided. Gaga could have shuttled to the BBC venue by car, like her parents did. Or she could have left unobserved from one of the hotel’s side entrances.
But subtle exits aren’t Gaga’s style. For they don’t provide the singer, who is releasing an album later this year, with a chance to feed the beast of a publicity machine that seems permanently set to overdrive.
Tomorrow night she will appear at the iTunes Festival in Chalk Farm. But the real purpose of her trip, on the eve of the release of a new single, has perhaps been a series of impromptu appearances in London’s streets.
Consider, by way of another example, her antics at 10pm on Tuesday, when she warned her 40 million Twitter followers — only Justin Bieber and Katy Perry boast more — that she was: ‘Headed straight for fish n chips, malt vinegar & brew.’
Dressed in black Latex, chesthigh waders and a pink bra (with nipple protectors to preserve what remained of her modesty), and with her hair filled with seashells to complete a nautical theme, Gaga then drove to the Sea Shell Of Lisson Grove, a fish-and-chip shop near Regent’s Park.
After a brief walkabout, in which she sucked on a pink baby bottle and showed the rapidly growing crowd that she had written the words ‘art’ and ‘pop’ — the title of her forthcoming album, coincidentally — on the palms of her hands, Gaga’s bodyguards ushered her into the Sea Shell and blocked the door.
To the apparent bemusement of actor Bill Nighy, who happened to be quietly dining there at the same time, she ordered and then ate a £9 haddock and chips and a £5 basket of popcorn prawns.
By the time Gaga emerged from the venue, which has large glass windows through which she allowed herself to be photographed, the surrounding residential streets were thronged with hundreds of onlookers.
‘She came in for a takeaway, but changed her mind and sat in the restaurant,’ the chip shop’s manager, Karina Ivanova, told reporters.
‘As she got up to leave, she noticed
‘She changes her outfits 12 times a day — it’s insane’
she had stained our white leather chairs with pop-up inkings on her arms . . . [she] offered to pay for the damage, but we refused because we were just happy to have her in.’
As ever, the outing garnered endless column inches. So, too, did Gaga’s other extravagant public appearances this week, about which the fashion media appear to have been carefully briefed.
On Wednesday, she stepped out in a Vivienne Westwood suit, top hat and what reporters were later informed was a Margaret Thatcher-inspired handbag and baby- blue Elle Macpherson Dentelle bra.
On Thursday night, she was photographed outside the LH2 studio in Acton, West London, where she was rehearsing for Sunday’s concert, wearing a black net over her head, in an apparent tribute to the late Michael Jackson, whose birthday it was.
Gaga was also wearing a black jacket, on which the words ‘crazy’, ‘thief’ and ‘drunk’ had been stitched, and sheer black tights over a black thong. She hadn’t bothered with trousers or a skirt.
These endless costume changes take time, and money, not to mention the assistance of an expensive team of stylists. Indeed, as an interviewer from Vogue magazine once memorably put it: ‘Gaga changing outfits . . . is akin to launching the space shuttle.’
But for a singer whose earnings from music are said to pale by comparison with her income from signature perfume, headphones and fashion accessories, Gaga’s ability to generate headlines is arguably her greatest asset.
She certainly needs it: since bursting on to the scene five years ago, her record sales have followed a steadily downward trajectory even as her profile has soared.
Her first album, 2008’s The Fame, sold 15 million copies, while 2011’s Born This Way shifted a mere six million. Though she used to regularly top the singles charts, her last Number One single was in early 2011, while her most recent release, this month’s Applause, is at Number Nine. Having trod red carpets in everything from a dress made from raw meat to a pair of scallop shells, even her most outre outfits no longer seem shocking, especially since this summer’s departure of longterm stylist Nicola Formichetti, who said on his resignation: ‘She changes 12 times a day. It’s insane.’
Her concert tours have struggled to make serious money, apparently because of her extravagant sets, and her last one was cancelled — at a reported cost of £30 million — after she was forced to undergo hip surgery in February.
A former cocaine addict, who was privately schooled, she claims to have been bankrupted four times, and has said she is uninterested in accruing wealth and ploughs all her income back into the stage show.
Gaga’s spending is certainly legendary. This week, it was reported that she had been missing her pet poodle, Fozzi, so much that she had paid £2,500 for him to be flown to London.
Speak to diehard fans, however, and they will tell you that this pantomime — and the impromptu public walkabouts — are a crucial part of Gaga’s appeal.
‘Every day, she’ll come out and take photos and talk to us,’ says Sam Ososki, a 20-year-old from Ascot who has slept rough outside the Langham all week.
He added: ‘Obviously she’s promoting a new record, so she wants this particular scene. But I’ve followed her for five years and she always does a similar thing. It’s far beyond what a normal star does. It’s not just for marketing. It’s what she actually wants to do.’
Jo Muir, the manager of a branch of McDonald’s in Liverpool, told me she has taken unpaid time off work to spend a week in a tent next to the hotel.
‘It’s the third time I’ve come to London to see her. I turn up with a sleeping bag and stay as long as she does.
‘I’ll be skint for the next few weeks and my landlord will be getting his rent late this month. But it’s worth it.
‘She always smiles and seems excited to see you. We spoke on Wednesday and I gave her a box of M&S shortcake, because she’d tweeted about how much she likes British stuff. She seemed genuinely pleased to get it.’
The Gaga super-fans call themselves the singer’s Little Monsters and interact daily with her via Twitter and Instagram. This week, they were told to wear ‘Botticelli punk’ accessories to tomorrow’s concert.
They are on first-name terms with every member of her entourage, from Middle Eastern driver Wayne to stylist Brandon Maxwell, make- up artist Tara Savelo and Freddie Aspiras, who is in charge of the singer’s collection of wigs.
This team of employees, which numbers roughly a dozen in total — and includes two personal assistants — travels in a pair of silver Mercedes people carriers (Gaga usually opts for a S500 hatchback).
In the early hours of Thursday, after they gathered outside the Langham to greet 25 die-hard fans who are camping there around the clock, Gaga and her entourage decided to entertain her loyal followers by performing a few lines of the chorus of her newest single.
‘I live for the applause, live for the way you scream for me,’ they sang.
This most headline-prone star, on such a deliberately high-profile visit, couldn’t have summed herself up better.
Additional reporting: EMMA LOWE and TANVEER MANN