"You know, I'm a big fan of yours, but tonight, I get to sing for you," we overheard Lady Gaga tell Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes last night. The occasion was a black-tie cocktail at The Plaza celebrating Harper's Bazaar's September "Icons" issue, and that moment between Gaga and Rhodes was one of many exchanges between rising stars—Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, et al.—and established icons—Carine Roitfeld, Linda Evangelista, Amber Valletta, etc.—in the room.
Despite the abundance of boldfacers, the evening's main attraction was a performance from Gaga, not in the style of her typical electro dance pop, but in her latest oeuvre, jazz. "She doesn't want to keep us bored, so she's switching it up," Evangelista told Style.com. "Yeah, just like Linda does with her hair!" chimed in Stephen Gan. "I'm very intrigued,” Tamara Mellon said, "because jazz is very difficult to sing, you can't fake it." Donatella Versace, for her part, thinks Gaga's got the pipes to pull off any genre: "I love her voice," she said. "Everything else she has, the clothes, the drama, she doesn't really need, because of that voice. She's a great actress and really knows how to make you feel the songs."
Gaga took the stage in a dress made by her sister, recent Parsons grad Natali Germanotta. And by the time the chanteuse rounded off her set with an emotional version of Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang," nobody was questioning her range.
Before taking a bow, Gaga said to the room: "I hope you all remember that at some point you were just young in New York City trying to make it. And everything is nice and coming up roses, but there was a time when you didn't have anything. All the women on this list worked very hard to be where they are today. There's nothing more iconic than passion, so party with some fucking passion tonight."
Courtesy Style.com