Just pants

Leotards, hair bows, giant orbs, razorblade sunglasses and exploding firework bras - these are some of the most memorable fashion moments of 2009, and they all involve one person. Love her or hate her, Lady Gaga is the style heroine of 2009. And she's coming to New Zealand for her first solo concert in March.

Not since, well, anyone, has a pop star embraced fashion and costume as much. Yes, Bjork, Peaches, Grace Jones et al have been doing the avant garde thing for years, but Lady Gaga has brought it into the mainstream and injected the pop world with a needed dose of fashion craziness. She straddles both worlds, wearing sex gear-inspired outfits on MTV, a giant metal orb headpiece on Ellen and featuring in a US Vogue as a Wicked Witch figure in a Hansel and Gretel inspired shoot by Annie Leibovitz.

It is because of her and her penchant for outlandish and sometimes ridiculous - but always interesting - outfits that the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna are upping their game and embracing fashion. (Remember when Beyonce used to wear heinous gowns designed by her mum?) She's to blame for the scary no-pants trend that has been taking over magazine pages. (A word of warning: while a pop star can leave the house wearing knickers as pants, very few "real" people can.) Gaga loves fashion, and fashion loves her right back.

While some have said her shtick is unoriginal, annoying, boring even; her fashion credentials stack up. Marc Jacobs resurrected his New York fashion show after-party just so she could perform (she wore a red lace bodystocking). Fashion photographer and former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane shot the artwork for her re-released album - check out the creepy crow headpiece . Prada dressed her for a performance as part of the Anniversary Gala at the MOCA (artist Damien Hirst created her pink butterfly printed piano).

She's collaborating with fashion photographer Nick Knight, asking fans to submit video imagery inspired by all things "sharp, simple and brutal: the Apocalypse, symbolic of both destruction and rebirth" - selected videos will be spliced together and included in her new tour (to submit something visit Knight's Show Studio website). And she works closely with stylist and Dazed and Confused creative director Nicola Formichetti, whose blog details and credits the outlandish costumes they (and the "Haus of Gaga" team) put together.

Formichetti styled her new Bad Romance video, basically a fashion editorial spread come to life - she wears Alexander McQueen spring 2010 (including the infamous crab heels), a faux polar bear coat by Benjamin Cho that she eventually sets alight, a bat hair hat, and the aforementioned orb, razorblade glasses and exploding bra.

Finally there's a pop star who embraces fashion as much as music. And you have to love someone who says things like: "You know you're a kindred spirit when you both arrive in pastels".