The hat for Lady Gaga, created from an old vinyl record and mirrored perspex by Deniliquin's Danica Erard. (Danica Erard - Supplied)
Milliner Danica Erard from Deniliquin had her ticket for one of Lady Gaga's recent Melbourne concerts when a friend suggested she create a hat for the popstar and take it along.
"Originally the plan was to hand it over on the stage. But when we arrived at the concert we had tickets that allowed us to have pre-show drinks and canapés and a few of the people in that VIP area told us the stage was really high and it would be quite a risk getting the hat to the stage without it breaking," she told ABC Goulburn Murray's Joseph Thomsen.
Danica was pointed in the direction of a member of Lady Gaga's entourage, and handed him the hat she'd crafted from a vinyl record and mirrored perspex.
"I really just put it in the hands of the gods. I thought if she's meant to get this headpiece, she will."
Danica was on her way back to her Deniliquin farm the next day when she learned that her cousin was having dinner with Lady Gaga's tour manager that night. She asked her cousin to enquire whether Lady Gaga had received the hat.
The next day she received a call from her cousin.
"She said 'Are you sitting down?' I said 'Should I be?' "
As it turned out, the man Danica had given the hat to passed it on to Lady Gaga's tour manager who in turn gave it directly to Lady Gaga.
"She absolutely loved it. It was hanging in her dressing room waiting to make the trip back to LA with all her personal belongings."
So does Danica now regard herself as milliner to the stars?
"I'm just proud that (Lady Gaga) has a piece of my passion with her," she gushed.
