Designer Rachael Barrett has used a Silicone Engineering product to create Lady Gaga’s creative outfits for her music videos.
Rachael started to experiment with silicone sheeting whilst on a work placement with Philips Design, where she discovered some leftover silicone.
Rachael was intrigued to find out if the material could be stitched like other materials such as leather and fabric. Following discovering that the product was versatile, she decided to continue exploring its potential as a wearable material whilst completing her MA collection.
After Rachael’s collection caught the attention of Nicola Formichetti, artistic stylist to Lady Gaga, a whirlwind ‘Bad Romance’ took off between the designer and the superstar.
A nine-garment collection was created using the silicone. Three of the pieces featured in Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video, one piece in her Telephone video and several pieces were produced for her tour and various other public appearances.
The designer told us that; “Lady Gaga loves outrageous material like rubber so I was able to go wild with my creations. There’s beginning to be a high demand for the material in the fashion industry as there’s a great variety of colours to choose from.
However the appeal of silicone for me is the variety of thicknesses which it can be bought in and the flexibility of sewing the 2mm thick sheeting together to produce a masterpiece.”
An example of what silicone sheeting looks like in fashion design can be seen on Lady Gaga’s recent Fame perfume advert.
Silicone Engineering’s kSil 60 silicone sheeting is the product, which was used to create a transparent effect for Lady Gaga’s various costumes.
With the material being so versatile, it’s no wonder that it is perfect to use for fashion couture. kSil solid sheeting is available in Shore A hardness 40 (soft) to 70 (Hard).
Victoria Chegwin, Commercial and Marketing Manager at Silicone Engineering said; “It’s amazing how our kSil 60 silicone sheeting can be made into an iconic fashion piece”.
Fashion designer Rachael Barrett has informed us that Lady Gaga is a fan of silicone and has been enquiring about different colours available in the silicone sheeting product range.
Rachael has also promised to keep us to date with the iconic fashionista’s trends – maybe Ms Gaga will pay us a trip personally to select material for her next music video – watch this space…!