Going Gaga for design
In the last few weeks, Lady Gaga used her celebrity influence to bring the world's attention back to Japan and its March 11 disaster recovery efforts with her promotion of the MTV Video Music Aid concert.
There's no doubt her involvement in the charity project will raise its profile, especially when you consider the extremely positive effect she has already had on local fashion.
Ms. Gaga insists on only wearing Japanese brands when she is in the country, and her fashion choices have sent massive ripples through the local high-brow fashion market. On her visit to Tokyo in May, she helped launch worldwide careers for several local designers, with shoemaker Noritaka Tatehana being the most prominent. Tatehana now has an exclusive contract to design shoes for her and garnered fans all across the globe, with his designs appearing on the covers of the industry's top magazines.