Lady Gaga Parties in a Birthday Outfit Straight Out of 'The Matrix'

From the outside, her trench was styled as a one-and-done dress.

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Lady Gaga leaves her birthday dinner in a leather trench and black sunglasses
(Image credit: Getty Images)

It doesn't matter if it's March or December: When celebrities pick out a birthday outfit, they choose over-the-top opulence that manifests as sequins, fringe, and more sequins. (The better to pop on their Instagram carousel the day after, of course.) But Lady Gaga, a fashion renegade in her own right, flipped the style script for her celebration last night.

The singer and star of Joker: Folie à Deux exited her 38th birthday dinner in Los Angeles wearing a slick take on the birthday outfit. A floor-grazing, Matrix-like leather trench coat with an exaggerated belt served as the centerpiece of her look, courtesy of Retrofête. The dramatic layer first appeared on Retrofête's Fall 2024 runway at New York Fashion Week—so it's not available to shop just yet.

Lady Gaga leaves a restaurant for her birthday wearing a leather trench coat

Lady Gaga left her birthday celebration in a Matrix-inspired leather trench coat and coordinating accessories.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

A model wears a leather trench coat that Lady Gaga wore for her birthday

Gaga's coat came directly from Retrofête's Fall 2024 runway at New York Fashion Week. There, it was styled for daytime with a tucked-in blouse and straight-leg jeans.

(Image credit: Retrofete)

Gaga's birthday outfit dialed into punk accessories from there, with a stack of silver chain necklaces peeking out from beneath the moto collar of her coat. She also carried a slouchy black leather clutch and concealed her eyes behind square-frame sunglasses. As for footwear, she choose square-toe black boots. (So far, eagle-eyed fans and Gaga's stylist, Nicola Formichetti, have yet to ID where the accessories in her all-leather look came from.)

While swerving around typical party styles like mini hemlines and twinkling embellishments, Lady Gaga stayed true to her daytime style. The proof's in the last outfit she shared with fans: Hanging out in Los Angeles last week, the 13-time Grammy winner posted a short Instagram Reel wearing a moto jacket, floral mini dress, and leather ankle boots.

A post shared by Lady Gaga

A photo posted by ladygaga on

Lady Gaga is hardly the first celebrity to pull a leather trench off the rack when she's looking for statement outerwear. Zoë Kravitz spent her Batman promotional era in a YSL leather trench coat; Dua Lipa turned a low-key travel outfit into a moment of spring style inspiration in a forest green leather trench this week.

In this case, Gaga's sleek birthday trench is a lesson: You can still party without a classic party dress, and in pieces you'll wear more than once. Committing to personal style can be a special occasion in and of itself.

Shop more leather coat and clutch pairings inspired by Lady Gaga's birthday outfit below.

Halie LeSavage
Halie LeSavage
Senior Fashion News Editor

Halie LeSavage is the senior fashion news editor at Marie Claire, leading coverage of runway trends, emerging brands, style-meets-culture analysis, and celebrity style (especially Taylor Swift's). Her reporting ranges from profiles of beloved stylists, to exclusive red carpet interviews in her column, The Close-Up, to The A-List Edit, a newsletter where she tests celeb-approved trends IRL.

Halie has reported on style for eight years. Previously, she held fashion editor roles at Glamour, Morning Brew, and Harper’s Bazaar. She has been cited as a fashion expert in The Cut, CNN, Puck, Reuters, and more. In 2022, she earned the Hearst Spotlight Award for excellence in journalism. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Harvard College. For more, check out her Substack, Reliable Narrator.