NEW : "The morning after his NYFW debut, Brandon Maxwell and his friend, client, and muse, Lady Gaga, came to the V Offices for a heartfelt chat. Gaga, Brandon has been styling and creating custom looks for you for some time. What draws you to his work and aesthetic? LG: I am attracted to people that have very interesting minds and have a bravery within them. Brandon has an incredibly interesting and complicated mind and I feel that I identify with him in a lot of ways. Watching him make the decision that it was time to put his collection out and seeing the way that his personal life and his life experiences aligned with his decision to make the collection, I just knew how authentic it was. And I’ve always known him to be a talent. What can I say? I’m attracted to geniuses, and that’s how I feel about Brandon. I just want to be near him all the time because he inspires me so much. Gaga, can you tell me about the moment when Brandon revealed he was launching his line? LG: I have to tell this story because it’s so true it’s funny. Brandon sat me down, we were having drinks and smoking cigarettes, and he was like, “Okay. I had an epiphany over the weekend and I need to discuss it with you.” I thought he was going to say something super terrifying and my stomach was turning and I was like, Oh God, is he okay? And he goes, “I think I’m going to be a designer. I’m going to make my first collection.” So I started laughing because he literally said it to me like I had no idea that he wanted to do this. It was like he was just telling mom one day, “Hey, Mommy, I’m gonna quit school and be an artist.” And it reminded me of what I said to my parents, and my parents cried at the table when I told them at 19 that I was leaving. But when he told me, I laughed and said, “Fucking finally.” That’s it, and that’s very his personality. Brandon is a nice person, and has no clue how smart he is, so he’s just doing this because he has to, because he’ll die if he doesn’t make clothes. That’s his passion, and everything else doesn’t matter. Gaga, I heard that you were extremely hands-on when it came to helping Brandon with his show. LG: I just love him so much. I feel like his mom in a weird way. I’m so close to him that I don’t know how to not be there. It almost felt like my child leaving for college or something and I wanted him to have everything that he wanted. So we made a list of everything and all day we just made sure that we did everything we needed to facilitate his vision. We didn’t make the show. Brandon made the show. And we wanted him to have a clear head. You know I really wanted him to be as peaceful as possible so that when he was backstage with the models dressing them that he could put on his stylist’s hat and enjoy that moment and be proud. It was a beautiful experience, and all I could do was be there for him the way that I know that he has been there for me every day for the past 5 years of my life. Every day. When I couldn’t get out of bed, when I couldn’t leave the house because I was afraid of people because I wasn’t comfortable being famous yet, when I was feeling sick, when I was injured, when I became depressed, when I had a breakup, through all that, he came to me because he never wanted anyone to see what was happening. He wanted to protect me and to let me know that there would always be someone there to lift me up forever. And what am I as a fucking artist if I don’t give that right back to him. He knows I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t believe in him, but my God, I just told him this morning that If he doesn’t give me one of those dresses for the Emmys I’m gonna cry. It’s gonna be a whole thing. I love it and I love him. I feel like I watched him become a man. " Read the rest of the interview at V Magazine. CF / vmagazine.com/... #gaga #brandonmaxwell #interview #Vmagagzine