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Few days ago Lady Gaga released the first promo shoot for her Born This Way Ball Tour. Shot by Terry Richardson, the provocative visual sees Gaga in a corseted clear vinyl (see-through plastic, that is) gown designed by fashion wunderkind Hogan McLaughlin.
“We had a week to put it together,” McLaughlin told WWD. The newcomer was commissioned to create the vinyl piece, with no guarantee that Gaga would wear it. He added, “I worked through the night several times and hoped for the best. I never worked in plastics before.” Evidently, his efforts paid off.
Lady Gaga in Hogan McLaughlin for Born This Way Ball Tour Promo Shoot
Kudos to Gaga for giving young talents a shot. For the uninitiated, however, it was avant-heiress Daphne Guinness who discovered McLaughlin, a twenty-something visual artist and former dancer from Chicago who had never sewed anything in his life before meeting Guinness.
The story began on Twitter.
Hogan McLaughlin | Photo By Courtesy Photo
“I had found [Guinness] on Twitter…[and] started sending her a few images of sketches I had done and she said we had to make this happen,” McLaughlin recalled in an interview with Hint Fashion Magazine. “That was the catalyst for me to turn it into a collection.”
Read: Daphne Guinness
It goes without saying, to captivate Guinness in such brief exchanges, McLaughlin’s illustrations have to be “out there.” And they are. His Edward Gorey-esque drawings resemble the dark, gothic aesthetics found in the designs of Lee Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, and Gareth Pugh. It’s not a coincidence, however. The previously unknown talent admitted to the New York Times: “I love their lines.”
Enjoy: The Art of Edward Gorey
Illustrated by Hogan McLaughlin
Illustrated by Hogan McLaughlin
Guinness has since become McLaughlin’s biggest advocate. The couture collector remarked, “Within the first fifteen minutes, I knew he had a gift. He is a voice that has to be heard. His drawings and illustrations are extraordinary in their execution and detail, and through those drawings, they needed to be brought to life.”
Brought to life Guinness did. Armed with approval and encouragement, McLaughlin started turning his macabre drawings into real garments. In May 2011, Guinness featured several pieces by the young designer in her window performance at Barneys New York. Few months later in September, McLaughlin presented a mini-collection of his morbidly romantic pieces during New York Fashion Week (NYFW).
When an exhibition dedicated to Guinness opened at the Museum at FIT following NYFW, the style icon donned a dramatic, sequined cutaway coat from McLaughlin’s first collection for the opening. She also installed his avant-garde pieces in the exhibition, placing the first-timer alongside the likes of McQueen, Owens, and Pugh.
Daphne Guinness in Hogan McLaughlin © Getty
It looks like McLaughlin isn’t going to sweeten his signature style. “I don’t see a sundress in my future,” the designer told the New York Times with conviction.
Bravo.
