Lady Gaga makes call to S.F. designer
Pop singer wears Lance Victor Moore’s accessories in ‘911’ video and during MTV awards show
Out of the nine extravagant costumes Lady Gaga wore at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 30, there were two accessories donned by the singer that caused San Francisco fashion followers to recognize some familiar artistry.
A distinctive hornembellished mask worn with a green Christopher John Rogers gown and a silver mask adapted into a headdress paired with a metallic Valentino ensemble both bore the signatures of San Francisco artist and designer Lance Victor Moore, a favorite secret weapon among the city’s red carpet regulars.
“My phone lit up like a Christmas tree that night,” says Moore, 38. “I was the only designer she used two pieces from at the VMAs. It’s been extremely exciting, and a little overwhelming.”
The VMAs were just the beginning. When the Sept. 15 cover of Billboard magazine was revealed, Gaga graced it in one of Moore’s leather and crystal cuffs. Inside the magazine, she also wore a studded belt by Moore and a blue crystal ring.
And, perhaps most fabulously, when Gaga’s “911” music video premiered a few days later, the superstar wore two additional masks by Moore: a spiked facial ornament with gold rosette details, and a silver rosette and spike piece the singer wore in the style of a tiara. One of Gaga’s backup dancers also displayed a leather woven belt by the artist, “as if the masks weren’t enough” Moore jokes.
Having a piece worn by Lady Gaga (let alone seven) can be a major boost for any designer. As such, Moore wants to be sure he uses the momentum wisely. The moment was perfect for his discovery in the larger fashion world: Long before COVID19, Moore was designing avantgarde, highly conceptual facial masks clients bought for occasions like the San Francisco Opera Ball. When the pandemic hit, he hit pause on making jewelry and other accessories to pivot toward fulltime mask making on the advice of his friend and client Vanessa Getty.
“A lot of the fashionable people here in San Francisco have been supportive of me,” says Moore, whose clients also include Courtney Dallaire, Betsy Linder and Kim Anstatt Morton. “It’s nice to feel like a big fish in a little pond.” His pond is about to get bigger. Moore grew up on Long Island in Central Islip, N.Y. From childhood, he had strong interests in fashion, art and pop culture. Masks were an early obsession as well: One of the first pieces he remembers making was a take on Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman mask from “Batman Returns” using the metal spiral binding from Madonna’s book “Sex” to help form the structure of the piece.
His interests were not encouraged by his devoutly Christian family, for whom “having a gay son was not an option,” says Moore, who is estranged from his parents; his father, Danny Hahlbohm, is a wellknown Christian artist. As a teenager, he ran away and moved to New York City, where he found a home in the downtown club scene with its outrageous personalities and emphasis on creative costuming. Although he studied art at the Cooper Union in New York, Moore is entirely selftaught when it comes to fashion. At age 21, he moved to San Francisco.
Moore first came to the attention of Getty when she saw a window he designed in 2016 at Britex Fabrics, from which he is furloughed due to the pandemic. The display featured a dress made out of safety pins. Getty commissioned Moore to make a version of it for her to wear to Bronson Van Wyck’s birthday party in Mykonos, Greece.
“He is incredible with metal,”
says Getty, who also financially supported his first San Francisco show. “He understands and appreciates the female form. His designs are both fluid on the body and flattering. They reflect the mood and personality of the client.”
Other society clients followed, including friends of Getty who commissioned Moore to create looks for Burning Man. In 2016 Moore’s masks debuted at New York Fashion Week in the collection of his friend and “Project Runway” designer Emily Payne.
“I had always told him that he should be designing for Lady Gaga,” Getty says. “I had recently spoken with (fashion designer and Gaga collaborator) Nicola Formichetti when he was in town with Lady Gaga, so when Lance messaged me to say he had made something for his ‘dream client,’ I knew it was for her.”
When Gaga’s styling team initially reached out to Moore, he didn’t believe it at first.
“My boyfriend ( Jaime Estrada) and I were at home watching ‘The Walking Dead,’ and I got three emails in a row with the header ‘Lady Gaga wants,’ ” Moore remembers. “I said, ‘Babe, put it on pause.’ I honestly thought it was a scam until I saw Studio Formichetti in the address; I knew that Nicola Formichetti led Gaga’s fashion team.” Moore quickly responded and spoke to stylist Marta del Rio.
“Marta said they’d been waiting for the right time to tap me for something,” Moore says.
“The only issue was, they needed it by Saturday.”
Moore didn’t know what projects his pieces would be used for: When he got the news about the VMAs, Billboard and the “911” video, he was as excited and thrilled as everyone else was.
“The song ‘911’ is my favorite from the album,” he says. “I played it over and over when it came out — it was surreal having my pieces in the video to my favorite song.”