Lady Gaga's 20 Most Fashionable Red Carpet Outfits of the Last Decade

From groundbreaking to breathtaking Lady Gaga has consistently secured her place in the annals of fashion—so what's next?

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The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was a very big night for Lady Gaga. Not only was she handed the award for Best New Artist of the year, but it was on this night that the world at large was essentially introduced to Gaga, and her "expect the unexpected" aesthetic for the first time. From the moment she hit the red carpet wearing a Jean Paul Gaultier gown paired with a gilded neck brace, to her acceptance speech in an archival Alexander McQueen red lace dress paired with a matching, face-obscuring mask and crown, if you didn't know that Gaga had arrived to stake her claim as the next culturally significant visual artist of our time, you simply weren't paying attention.

Like Madonna before her, for the next 10 years Gaga took every opportunity at each red carpet event (not to mention new video, new live performance, new TV appearance, new street style moment) to help reinforce her position as chief avant-pop, fashion-freak, shit-stirrer who continued to keep her audience anticipating her next incarnation.

While we are all familiar with her myriad personas, it has truly been her turns on the red carpet that will remain most iconic for years to come. On her way to scoop up armfuls of accolades, Gaga has proved time and again that she can glam it up like the best of Hollywood royalty while always retaining some degree of her Mother Monster-ness.

Sadly, we were about to be treated to her newest incarnation as her sixth album, Chromatica was slated to drop on April 10th, but its release has since been been pushed back as Lady Gaga decided to re-focus her efforts on various COVID-19 initiatives. We did however, get a few hints of a new intergalactic, anime inspired, robotica persona from her "Stupid Love" video, but if we have learned anything from Gaga over the past decade, this was sure to be just the tip of the iceberg.

So, until we are again graced with Lady Gaga's next inspiring looks, let's take a moment to celebrate the last 10 years of her most fashionable red carpet star-turns. Rah-Rah-Gaga!!

Joseph Errico

Joseph Errico is Marie Claire’s Fashion Director. As a career-long fashion editor and celebrity stylist, he has had the opportunity to work alongside the world’s top image makers and talent. He has styled editorial and advertising, red carpet, music videos, fashion shows and writes about fashion, culture and most anything bon vivant-y for marieclaire.com. He feels most at home in an airport lounge, a beach, a disco or gossiping front row at the collections. His blood type is Gaultier.