From geisha to Lady Gaga: How traditional Japanese culture inspired singer's gravity-defying heel-less platform shoes



A Japanese shoe designer has become a pop diva's favourite by taking geisha and making it Gaga.



Noritaka Tatehana is the man behind Lady Gaga's towering, clog-like shoes, which have no heel and are 10 to 18 inches tall.



Her appearances on TV shows and music videos, teetering in his creations, have helped make him such a fashion star that some of his shoes sell for more than $15,000 a pair.

The height of fashion: Japanese shoe designer Noritaka Tatehana works in his Tokyo studio on the heel-less platform shoes that have become a favourite with lady Gaga and Daphne Guinness

Mr Tatehana, who has made more than 20 pairs for Lady Gaga over the last two years, said he took the traditional 'geta' shoes of geishas and made a modern form with his sculptural platforms.

'My work became an icon. It worked not only as branding for me. It also became part of her branding,' he said in a recent interview at his Tokyo workshop, cluttered with art books and his sleek shoes - some glittering with Swarovski crystals, others with golden studs.

The 26-year-old, who evokes the pensive mood of a monk with his quiet voice, long hair tied back in a bun and baggy Yohji Yamamoto pants, was still a student when his career took off.



Famous fans: Lady Gaga (left) in a pair of shoes by Mr Tatehana at the 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan show, and Daphne Guinness (right) in another of his vertiginous designs at the 2011 CFDA Awards



In fact, Lady Gaga's first pair of Tatehanas had been the subject of his graduation thesis at the prestigious Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied traditional weaving and kimono dyeing.

Loyal fan: Lady Gaga, pictured in July 2011, in another pair of Mr Tatehana's platforms

He made the shoes with pink, reptilian-looking leather from a stingray, common in Japanese crafts such as decoration for swords.

He started his fashion brand by trumpeting the design in an email he sent to dozens of people in the industry.



He received just three responses: one from a blogger, one from a journalist and one from Lady Gaga's stylist.



Lady Gaga was not available for comment. But fashion guru and beer heiress Daphne Guinness says she is a big fan.



'I am so happy to have a friend who speaks the same language as me - not English or Japanese, but the language of art, which transcends linguistics,' she said. 'He is truly a unique talent.'



Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, which has exhibited Mr Tatehana's work, said she hopes he eventually makes a more affordable line.



'Noritaka Tatehana is one of the most important shoe designers of our time,' she said. 'His amazing, vertiginous heel-less high-heeled shoes have transformed the look of extreme footwear.'

The custom-made shoes look like the furthest thing from sensible; even Lady Gaga has occasionally lost her balance in some of the taller designs. But Mr Tatehana said they're actually more comfortable than regular high heels because they put the wearer's weight on the toe rather than the heel.

The designer says he can even run in his creations, though he prefers to wear sneakers and loafers.

Lady Gaga has been witnessed in other eccentric footwear. The stiletto heels that look like lobster claws are by Alexander McQueen, not Mr Tatehana.

Gravity-defying: The designer's towering, clog-like shoes have no heel and are 10 to 18 inches tall

Real deal: An apprentice geisha wearing traditional Japanese kimono and the tall wooden shoes known as okobo, in Japan





Mr Tatehana grew up on the seaside resort of Kamakura. His father used to run a downtown Tokyo public bathhouse that has since become prime office real estate, and his mother teaches doll-making.



He says he would like someday to expand into clothing, maybe bags, or to work in costume design for films. He also wants to help raise the profile of his heritage around the world.

