How does one style the fashion dynamo Lady Gaga herself? Artists Aside had the chance to ask Lance Victor Moore all about creating face masks for Gaga, high fashion, and the lessons he’s learned along the way.

Never did a young independent designer imagine his lockdown would involve working with Lady Gaga.  Being a novice to the fashion industry, the couture mask maker was presented with an extraordinary opportunity to create accessories for Gaga’s cyberpunky 2020 album Chromatica.

There was no doubt he’d been the perfect designer for the fashion revolutionary to reach out to. His avant-garde work had previously been demonstrated in fashion shows, but it was the luxurious yet functional covid masks he’d created at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic that had piqued the attention of the internet and celebrity buyers alike.  

“Gaga’s team contacted me because she had just released her Chromatica album. And because of the pandemic, they were of course having to navigate how to shoot a music video, how to do the MTV awards and magazine editorials,” Lance explains.

 “As a fan of hers anyways, being stuck in the pandemic and all of a sudden having this wonderful opportunity, I said ‘Of course, just tell me what you guys want.’”

The San Francisco-based designer’s first commission came in the form of the MTV awards. Tasked with creating a covid mask that was both edgy and high fashion at once, the result was a red mask emblazoned with horns, which Gaga wore for an acceptance speech.

“I was just happy for the opportunity,” Lance shares, “but Gaga’s team wrote back and said ‘We’re not done yet. We really loved the piece, and we want some more pieces because we’re shooting a music video’.”

And that’s how Lance’s second gig came to be, designing elegant masks with a punky flair for Lady Gaga’s ‘911’ music video – an iconic gold metal mask and a silver spiky crown.  

“Those were the pieces they chose, and they’re now a part of that video’s history,” Lance says proudly.

As well as working with the Mother Mons†er herself, Lance’s career has led him to working with other aesthetic-driven artists, including electronic singer Grimes and rockstar-rapper Machine Gun Kelly.  

Not only working with Gaga his earliest major experience, it was also what Lance describes as “one of the nicest experiences I ever had in this industry”.

“I got very lucky with the Gaga stuff,” he acknowledges. “If the opportunity is with someone who I’m really excited to work with, it’s great. It motivates you and gets you excited to help them get their vision across.

“Regardless of whether it’s someone I’m a huge fan of, or if it’s someone I’m just sort of tertiarily aware of, I always try to get my best work. I want my work to shine through regardless of the person wearing it and also to show my best skill set.”

The former Cooper Union student originally attended the prestigious New York school for painting, but it was after exploring the medium of sculpting that he knew he’d found his niche, getting involved in the early 2000s underground New York scene and creating avant-garde pieces for drag queens, performers and punk rockers.

So what inspires his dreamlike designs?

“A lot of it’s from nature,” Lance explains. “I wouldn’t say that I’m a nature buff as much as a nature admirer. I live in California, so we have some of the most beautiful topography in the world to explore which is wonderful.

“I’ll go out and find all kinds of things like thistles, insects, but I’m also big on science. Science and math were things that really interested me, so I use a lot of that in what I do.”

Once he has a concept, there comes the challenge of whether the piece can be realistically crafted, a question Lance poses to his students at the Academy of Art and Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

“I build everything in my head with lots of models and prototypes before I ever get to a final piece. Then all the parts that are delicate or ornate come afterwards.”

Lance shares not only practical advice but also his experiences in high fashion with his students. He mentions that: “A lot of young people are so scared to rock the boat.

“If you’re lucky enough to have an opportunity, you should take it, but you also need to understand your rights as a designer and not be scared to ask for what you’re entitled to.  

“I’ve learned that through a lot of trial and error in this industry. I’ve been doing it professionally ever since the whole Gaga thing happened and I’ve definitely learned a lot in those six years.”

With many exciting projects on the horizon for Lance Victor Moore, one thing is for sure: he will continue to change the faces of the music industry. OA