Lady Gaga had, perched on her head, something very much associated with a real fashion icon, but one, unfortunately, no longer around. Who wore it better?

With the same Philip Tracy hat. Left, the late Isabella Blow and, right, Lady Gaga, 22 years apart. Photos: Diego Uchitel and Getty Images respectively

On the red carpet of the Venice Film Festival, Lady Gaga appeared for the premier of her new film, the quickly-panned Joker: Folie à Deux. Rather than dressed to honour her character Harley Quinn, which presumably would be predictable, she came in a black Dior couture gown that have been euphemistically described by the press as classic. Boring is, of course, a bad word these days. But it was not the inoffensive dress that aroused interest; it was the hat. Those who have followed fashion from way back would remember that it was the late British fashion editor and impresario who first wore it back in 2002. In fact, that hat was part of a collection put up for auction after she died in 2007 by Christie’s, but her compatriot/friend, Daphne Guinness, bought the whole lot, which later became the 2013 London exhibition, Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore.

As we understand it, the hat is still owned by Ms Guinness. And it is likely that it was on loan to Lady Gaga. It is not known why she could not go to Mr Treacy for a totally new, just-as-dramatic bespoke creation. Or why she picked the particular hat that looked like a split spire, with the curvilinear rim that swooped forward like eaves to cover her eyes. We speculate that Lady Gaga must have thought that her Dior gown was so unspectacular, so costume-lite that she needed a statement hat to complete the picture. Only thing is that the statement was already made by someone else that is dead, but some of us are alive enough to remember the wearer with the distinctive diction of what to many others were unimaginable. For a lack of a better phrase, Isabella Blow was a true original.

But birds of such a feather are increasingly a rare breed. Lady Gaga had been close to being such a creature. Many would remember her infamous ‘meat dress’ at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. She had worn more outrageous hats too, such as the from-Krypton Armani Privè hat at the 52nd Grammy Awards. But she has not, since being a movie star as well as a pop star, quite adopted the anomalous. She is now a serious artiste, who makes serious fashion choices. To be sure, she has cast her net wide—even ensnaring a dress by Rizman Ruzaini—but not quite far-reaching enough that she could still embrace the unexampled. Some say she was inspired by Isabella Blow. Inspiration is a lace-thin gap from wholesale adoption.