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December 9, 2011

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New flagship store opens so fans can go gaga for Christmas

FOR the grand opening of Gaga's Workshop, it seemed as if Lady Gaga chartered a sleigh, picked up Santa Claus and Willy Wonka along the way and landed recently at Barneys New York flagship on Madison Avenue.

The Workshop is the retailer's in-store holiday shop, conceived, designed and christened by Lady Gaga - 511 square meters of bright colors, crazy shapes and a gigantic cartoon statue of the superstar herself in a pinup pose surrounded by jagged mirrors and sitting atop thousands of black plastic discs.

From the street, passers-by get a hint of what's taken over the fifth floor of the store since Gaga and stylist Nicola Formichetti also created the traditional seasonal window displays. Huge crowds gathered. For entertainment, clowns-turned-carolers sang some of Gaga's signature songs, including "The Edge of Glory" and "Born This Way."

"It's a 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' moment," Gaga said. "We wanted it all to be whimsical and fun, with a sense of art and fashion."

Christmas was a special time in her "traditional Italian house," where the smell of food cooking all day is one of her fondest childhood memories. As for gifts, her favorite as a teenager was a ticket to see a Tory Amos concert.

She pointed out at Barneys the hair bows attached to headbands, iPhone and iPad covers and stiletto-heel holiday stockings as potential hits for her fans. It was, however, the composition notebooks splashed with her logo that she'd put at the top of the list.

"I hope they'll be given as gifts this year," she said.

Items for sale - ranging from studded leather motorcycle jackets for infants to Gaga-on-a-motorcycle ornaments - purposely run the gamut of price and appeal to many ages. "I wanted it to be a wide spectrum," Gaga said.

In the candy shop are cookies shaped like little monsters (Gaga's affectionate term for fans) and rock candy necklaces. Inside the boudoir, sort of a tent shaped like a wig, there are hair bows and hologram-effect nail polishes. For toys, there are plush monsters riding a train, and the jewelry store has chunky necklaces and bracelets, Shoppers can get US$4,000 heel-less booties or US$50 heart-shaped sunglasses. Twenty-five percent of each sale will be donated to Gaga's anti-bullying Born This Way Foundation.




 

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