Lady Gaga’s stylist to launch `solar-powered` clothing in 2013

The man behind Lady Gaga’s infamous ‘meat’ dress is all set to create his own fashion label titled Formichetti.

Nicola Formichetti, the pop star’s 34-year-old stylist, will launch his own New York-based accessories and apparel brand in mid-2013.

The Tokyo-born designer told WWD that he is creating ‘solar-powered’ garments that are intended to charge its wearer’s mobile phone.

Speaking at the launch of a pop-up store in Hong Kong, which will temporarily stock another one of his collections titled Nicopanda, he described the project as ‘very digitally oriented and high-tech.’

“We’ve been working with the same fabrics, the same techniques for hundreds of years. That’s all great but we need something new,” the Daily Mail quoted him as telling WWD.

“Why do you have to have a zipper when you can have a jacket that’s molded to your body?” he said.

The designer, who is also the creative director for French fashion house Mugler, is planning to create clothes that incorporate the use of solar power and is currently working with a technology company to develop the necessary materials.

The half-Italian, half-Japanese designer is also the creative director for Uniqlo, a Japanese clothing brand.

He is the man responsible for Lady Gaga’s wacky dresses.

It is, in fact, the meat dress, which the mega star wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, that gave him the confidence to embark on his own label.

“The meat dress was the turning point for me. When what we created together got so much attention,” Forbes magazine quoted him as saying.

“Wow, a piece of clothing attracted that much attention, positive and negative, wow that’s f***ing crazy,” he said.

The designer is now ready to launch his own label.

“This year, I wanted to focus on my own dream,” he said.

“Being a stylist, you always hide behind a brand but because of Gaga and Mugler, I needed to come out onto the scene. I had to embrace it,” he explained.

The label will launch online rather than as a collection show during Fashion Week because the produced garments ‘might not have seasons’ attached to them.

But it seems that Lady Gaga will always hold a special place in his heart.

“Gaga and I are attracted to the same aesthetic. We are connected. We are in sync. We research a lot. We pull a lot of references. When the date of the performance or event is closer, we forget about everything we’ve researched,” he said.

“That’s when the magic happens,” he added.