more than Lady Gaga's electro-pop hooks are her avant-garde outfits. We had the pleasure of shopping with Gaga (that's what she told us to call her!) at a few of her favorite Los Angeles haunts. Along the way we got the scoop on her style philosophy and her forecasts for what we should be wearing right now.

In person, Gaga is just like you’d imagine her to be: petite but powerful. We met at Opening Ceremony, a West Hollywood boutique filled with cutting edge designers. Gaga arrived sporting her dramatic, trademark look— no pants— with a fabulous oversized red blazer and, of course, sunglasses.

Within minutes of rifling through the racks, it was clear that Gaga knows more about fashion than most fashion editors. “Fashion is my life,” she said more than once.

Fashion is also a big part of her music. Her songs and her clothes are equal partners in every performance. She designs most of her costumes herself, with a few exceptions. Benjamin Cho was responsible for her ‘American Idol’ ensemble; the bubble dress she wears on her Fame Ball tour, she explains, was actually her version of a piece by Hussein Chalayan.

When she saw Jeremy Scott’s Keith Haring-print motorcycle jacket, she immediately announced it was “was coming home with me”. She loved asymmetrical shapes like a kind of floor-length kimono sweater and anything lavender, which, she told us, was to be the color of the summer as her recent hairstyle indicates. Some of the things that caught her eye completely surprised us including a pair of canvas Keds. Who knew she wore flats? 

Our next stop was Jack's, a vintage sunglasses store, which looked completely unassuming from the outside. Inside, it was stocked with everything from Porches to Persols and Gaga was certifiably giddy. She tried on lots of 80s era shades— what doesn’t look good on her?—and settled on a mere eight pairs.

Obviously, we can’t all dress like Gaga in our everyday lives but what we can do is let her enthusiasm and her no-holds-barred self expression inspire us to come up with our own creations. I’m heading out to get some lavender right now.