A crimson curtain rises, but it’s not part of the set—it’s the dress. This is the world of Samuel Lewis, a 26-year-old Australian designer whose creations for pop icons are less garments and more architectural marvels built for the stage.
His most famous piece to date is a monumental gown for Lady Gaga, a 7.5-meter-high structure that begins as a militaristic bodice and cascades into vast, swooping velvet drapes. The true spectacle is revealed when the skirt opens, unveiling a metal cage beneath where dancers perform. For Lewis, the challenge was a test of ambition: “We had to ask, how giant can something like this physically be?”
Lewis, who splits his creative identity between his Australian roots and Taiwanese heritage, has rapidly ascended in the elite circles of celebrity fashion since his 2024 graduation from Florence’s Polimoda institute. His signature is a fusion of meticulous, almost industrial construction with a raw, grungy romanticism. He specializes in complex pieces that are engineered to move, transform, and withstand the rigors of a live performance—Russian-doll dresses, structured corsets, and garments that morph into other forms.
Beyond his work for Gaga, which also includes looks for her recent music videos and the 2025 Grammy Awards, his client list has expanded to include stars like Chappell Roan, members of BLACKPINK, and Madonna. He is currently designing a look for a Christina Aguilera Christmas special.
He attributes his unique perspective not to precocious talent, but to a voracious consumption of culture. His influences arrive in “waves,” heavily informed by 70s rock and 90s grunge, and films like Jim Jarmusch’s vampire drama Only Lovers Left Alive. He is drawn to fabrics with a sense of decay, mashing together the aesthetic of Debbie Harry with opulent Victoriana to create silhouettes that are at once body-conscious and fantastically distorted.
“Engaging with art, film, and music is how you develop as a designer,” Lewis asserts. “I’m a firm believer that you need to immerse yourself in things to become better.”
His personal style reflects this philosophy, often incorporating the sex appeal of 70s rock—flared trousers, peaked collars, gothic boots—even in the most impractical settings. “Putting outfits together is a way to access that design mind, even when I’m not actually designing,” he says.
Though based in Melbourne, Lewis’s work has taken him globally, from Los Angeles to Seoul. His international upbringing, shaped by his father’s diplomatic postings across Asia and Europe, gave him an early, borderless perspective on culture. This global outlook was amplified by the internet, which he credits for his initial breakthroughs. “With the internet, you can make it from wherever you are,” he states. “I’m proof of that.”
However, he notes a persistent bias in the fashion industry, where Australian designers often struggle for recognition until they find success overseas. “We still look to Paris and Milan as the true signifiers of fashion,” he observes. “We wait until someone’s shown there, and then we say, ‘Oh, now we’re interested.'”
He also sees celebrity clients as the new patrons of sartorial art. “They’re the ones with the resources that allow for this kind of exploration, to just let you go wild with ideas,” he explains.
Now, Lewis is channeling his experience into his debut solo collection, slated for the first half of 2026. Inspired by “the idea of collecting things through time and finding the beauty in everything,” the line will be a mix of made-to-order and ready-to-wear. His central challenge is to translate the extreme, corseted silhouettes of his stage work into wearable art that doesn’t require a physical sacrifice from the wearer.
His ultimate goal? “I really want to make something that makes you be like, ‘What is that? How does it work?'”
