Gaga for MMU fashion graduate

Eccentric pop star Lady Gaga has been spotted wearing a flamboyant feather and hair covered outfit designed by none other than MMU Fashion graduate Holly Russell (22).

Gaga, renowned for her unconventional fashion sense, wore Holly’s designs at the Billboard’s Women in Music event in New York last week, attended by the world’s press and artists including Beyoncé and Michelle Williams.

1,000 beetle wings

Holly says: “I am a very ambitious person and have always known what I wanted to do and that has always been fashion.”

The striking sheer blue dress was created for Holly’s final year collection - for which she achieved First Class Honours - and selected as the finale piece for MMU’s show at Graduate Fashion Week in June.

The piece, entitled ‘The Blue Jewel Beetle’, uses real human hair and beetle wings imported from Tokyo to create a stunning 3D outfit. Each shoulder section took several weeks to hand make and Holly used over 1,000 beetle wings in her whole collection.

Up-and-coming

Holly – described by Gaga as “an up-and-coming new designer” – took inspiration for her collection from animals and minerals, using materials that mimicked textures and surfaces found within the natural world.

The London-born fashion designer is certainly no stranger to success, winning The Best of Manchester Fashion Award 2009 at The Best of Manchester Awards at Urbis in July.

Holly starts a placement with the design team at Topshop in November and hopes to secure a placement with her designer idol Christopher Kane. Next year she plans to study for an MA in Womenswear and ultimately design her own label in the future.