Who Is Samuel Lewis, The Australian Designer Lady Gaga Wears?

ON THE 2025 Grammy Awards red carpet, it was apparent that when it comes to experimental aesthetics, Lady Gaga has found an equal in Australian-Taiwanese designer Samuel Lewis.

His namesake demi-couture label created Gaga’s leather jacket and faille ballgown skirt, bringing gothic grandeur to the carpet. Its dramatic shoulders and lace-up bodice teased the dark, gritty notes of Gaga’s single “ABRACADABRA,” which was released halfway through the night in anticipation of her sixth album MAYHEM, set for release on March 7, 2025. Where silk-clad monstrosities roam during the day and vengeful clones stalk the streets, the album is estimated to be Gaga’s most conceptually driven and emphatic album yet — and as it turns out, Lewis’ sartorial vision has played an integral part.

How has Samuel Lewis collaborated with Lady Gaga?

The 2025 Grammy Awards weren’t the first time when Gaga has turned to Lewis to match her unique vision.

During the climax of Gaga’s “DISEASE” music video, her plague doctor-esque persona vomits out a doppelganger. Saturated in stomach fluids and writhing on the pavement, Gaga soon finds herself almost crushed by the moving walls of the converging suburbia. Her movements are frantic, haunting. Dressed in a soot-grey illusion gown and matching gloves by Lewis, she thrashes like a parasite decaying without its host.

Lady Gaga is known to worship at the altar of spectacle. A perusal through her most iconic moments, including the three days spent inside a plastic egg in preparation for her 2021 Grammy Awards appearance and the BDSM imagery in her “Alejandro” music video, will tell you she isn’t afraid of the unconventional. With his inclination for corsetry and play with proportions, Samuel Lewis is positioned as Gaga’s perfect paramour.

Who is Samuel Lewis?

Samuel Lewis is an Australian-Taiwanese designer and founder of the brand of the same name, based in both Melbourne and Paris. He often incorporates vintage garments and scrap materials into his designs to revisit antiquity with a delightfully off-kilter modernity.

In 2022, Lewis graduated from the Polimoda Fashion School in Florence, Italy, with his collection titled ‘Do Angels Need Haircuts?’, which launched him into the pages of Milanese magazine Carnale Room, an experimental publication exploring the intersection of sensuality through fashion, photography and art. Lewis’ ‘Martyrdom Gown’, complete with its operatic skirt and headpiece reminiscent of whale flukes, appeared in a spread in Issue 04 “COME INSIDE”. But that feature marked only the beginning of Lewis’ ascent.

Which other celebrities has Samuel Lewis designed outfits for?

Since then, Samuel Lewis’ evolving practice has continued to attract stars, like Gaga, who have an eye for unique emerging talent.

Foremost among those stars is none other than Madonna, who wore the ‘Mourning Star Skirt’ from his graduate collection for a short film she shared on her social media.

For the season finale of reality fashion competition OMG FASHUN in May 2024, he designed a memorable look for host Julia Fox, consisting of a custom surrealist wedding gown that hung off the body in tatters of distressed silk, appearing to be “moth-eaten” by preserved moth specimens sourced from antique Parisian markets. The captivating look was paired with a lace veil crafted from an eighteenth-century shawl.

In 2024, his garments also appeared on modern provocateur Chappell Roan when she performed at the Hinterland Music Festival in Iowa in August. Dressed in the “Flying Nun” ensemble, the look featured a traditional nun’s coif paired with Lewis’ silk moiré corset with augmented hips over an infinity bra, a velvet heart skirt, and a sheer black overcoat.

Victoria Monét turned to the designer for the 2024 BET Awards, where she wore a gown based on his “Piercing Dress” — which he originally constructed from scrap Tuscan leathers and deadstock facial piercings.

A common thread in Lewis’ designs is his fascination with form and eccentricity. So it’s no surprise that his edgier tastes have enamoured him with the alternative crowd too, as he styled avant-rock musician Yves Tumor in a funeral hat for his 2023 album Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood. Crafted from towering feathers, Tumor appears as a lone crow departing from the murder.

What’s next for Samuel Lewis?

Though it’s unclear what comes next for Samuel Lewis in the immediate future, it’s clear that his name will only continue to skyrocket. With a clear penchant for memorable red carpet looks and his recent collaborations with Lady Gaga, Lewis is certainly one to watch.