All About Lady Gaga's Sister, Natali Germanotta

Get to know the “Shallow" singer’s fashion designer sister, Natali Germanotta

Lady Gaga has a very important Little Monster in her life: sister Natali Germanotta.

Natali has supported her older sibling since long before Gaga was a household name.

“I was in high school back when she was playing places like the Knitting Factory,” she told Interview in 2011. “I remember me and my dad helping her pack up her stuff and walk down flights of stairs carrying her big electric piano. It might get annoying sometimes, but the pride I feel for her really outweighs all that stuff."

The fashion designer and Topo Studio founder has created some of her sister's more recent stage looks, including outfits for the 2022 Chromatica Ball and Gaga's Las Vegas residency, as well as one of Gaga’s 2022 Grammy dresses.

That doesn’t mean Natali always agrees with Gaga's sartorial choices, though. In 2011, she told Teen Vogue, "Some of the stuff she wears I'd be like, 'No, never.’ "

Luckily, there’s a benefit to having a sister known for sporting wild looks. “Whenever I wear something crazy and my dad gives me a hard time, I say, ‘Well, at least I’m not walking out on the street with red pasties,’ ” Natali told the outlet. "And he’ll be like, ‘Good point.' ”

Here's everything to know about Lady Gaga's sister, Natali Germanotta.

She was raised in New York City

Natali Veronica Germanotta was born on March 10, 1992, in New York City. She and Gaga, who is six years older, grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Both attended high school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Gaga has spoken about being bullied, which ultimately helped her dig into her A Star Is Born character of Ally.

“What I had to do was go back further into my childhood, into my high school years, when I was bullied and made fun of for having big dreams,” Gaga told PEOPLE in 2018.

Natali had a very different high school experience, however, as Gaga’s breakout hit, “Just Dance,” was released in 2008, when Natali was a sophomore. The popular tune made it hard to keep a low profile, but Natali had a good experience at the all-girls private school.

"I'll have those friends forever. My sister and I were in different grades with different girls,” she told Teen Vogue.

She is a fashion designer

Natali was determined to make her own way in fashion rather than use her sister’s connections, and she graduated in 2014 from the Parsons School of Design in New York City.

As an undergrad, she created costumes for the off-Broadway show Simon Says and interned for Allison Parris, according to British Vogue.

"Natali has an edgier sense of style like her sister," Parris told WWD in 2011, adding, "She is so nice and so easy to work with. She is such a great girl."

Natali later worked as an assistant for fashion designer Brandon Maxwell, Gaga's stylist and the former fashion director of the Haus of Gaga, and founded her own line, Topo Studio, in 2021.

The New York native did get one big leg up — or foot, really. For her 2011 performance of “Born This Way” and “You and I” on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Gaga turned one of Natali’s school projects, a giant stiletto statue, into a piano. The moment was a big surprise for Natali, telling Teen Vogue, "I was at my parents' house sobbing, like, 'Oh my God.’ ”

She’s appeared in Lady Gaga’s music videos

While still in high school, Natali made an appearance as one of Gaga’s cellmates in the 2009 music video for “Telephone.” Nine years later, she popped up again in the music video for “Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?),” where she can be spotted playing pool.

In addition to her music video cameos, Natali can be seen in the 2017 documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two.

She created outfits for Lady Gaga’s tours and the Grammys

Lady Gaga has proudly worn many looks designed by her sister.

Recent collabs with Topo Studio include stage looks for the 2022 Chromatica Ball Tour, the Las Vegas residency, Lady Gaga: Jazz & Piano, and Gaga’s October 2023 performance with the Rolling Stones.

Natali has styled Gaga for off-stage moments too, including a 2014 Harper’s Bazaar spread and a 2023 Don Perignon campaign, and she worked in the costume department on 2018’s A Star Is Born.

The “Rain on Me” singer also called on her sister for the 2022 Grammys. Of the three gowns Gaga wore to the ceremony, one was a teal crepe back satin silk velvet dress with a feather capelet designed by Topo Studio.

"Thank you to @topostudiony for hand making this beautiful 👗 for me 🥰," Gaga wrote on Instagram the next day.

She played a big role in Gaga’s Super Bowl performance

Natali worked on her sister's wardrobe team for the Super Bowl LI halftime show in 2017.

She had a hand in more than the costumes, as she came up with the idea for the “Bad Romance” singer to fly over the crowd via cables. Gaga told Boston’s Mix 104.1 that she recalled her sister suggesting, “I know, let’s suspend you in the air!”

After Gaga’s performance, Natali was spotted backstage giving Gaga a big hug. Their parents were also in Houston to support both of their girls.

“We are extremely proud and honored to have all of our family here," Cynthia told Entertainment Tonight.

She got a shoutout at the Oscars

In 2019, Gaga won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Shallow.” While accepting the award, the teary-eyed singer gave Natali a sweet shoutout.

“To my sister, my soulmate, I love you,” Gaga shared on stage.

The Germanotta sisters made their first red-carpet appearance at the 2011 CFDA Fashion Awards in New York City, where Gaga accepted the Fashion Icon award. A few years later, they posed backstage at Brandon Maxwell’s 2016 New York Fashion Week show, and in 2017, Natali joined her parents, Cynthia and Joe Germanotta, for the world premiere of Gaga: Five Foot Two during the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lady Gaga wore a wild outfit to Natali’s high school graduation ceremony

The Grammy winner turned up to her sister’s 2010 high school graduation ceremony in a rhinestone-embellished bodysuit and beekeeper-inspired headgear.

"The teachers were like, 'Oh my God, I can't handle this family,' " Natali told Teen Vogue. "She asked me, 'Should I dress really conservative and look not like myself, or should I do it over-the-top and freak everybody out?' And I was like, 'The latter, definitely the latter.' "

Natali was no slouch herself, designing her own avant-garde dress with a graduation cap on the sleeve.

She designed a Monster Doll with Lady Gaga

Monster High collabed with Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation in 2016 on a Lady Gaga-inspired doll, Zomby Gaga.

The doll was styled by Natali to pay homage to Zombie Boy in the “Born This Way” music video. Gaga said she was “so proud of my sister” and “excited to spread the values of love, kindness and bravery to young people around the world.”

She had a pet lizard

One of the biggest inspirations in Natali’s life was a four-legged creature — her pet lizard, Phinneas.

She told Interview that he was a constant source of inspiration who “sits on my shoulder while I do my homework.”

Phinneas accompanied Natali to her 2011 Teen Vogue shoot, where she gave her pet a kiss on the lips that made the crew cringe.

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