Lady Gaga shop makeover has tourists agog

Singer Lady Gaga appears at a ribbon cutting ceremony to launch Gaga's Workshop, a holiday retail experience representing Lady Gaga`s reinterpretation of Santa's workshop at Barneys department store in New York. AP

NEW YORK—Tourists and shoppers thronged New York department store Barneys on Tuesday to see the opening of a whole floor turned over to the extravagant world of pop singer Lady Gaga.

It’s a holiday season makeover like no other, styled as “Gaga’s Workshop” and filled with wildly presented Lady Gaga-themed sweets, books, toys, clothes and other items.

Lady Gaga, known for sporting the pop industry’s most lavish, often impractical outfits, cut the opening ribbon herself, giving fans a chance to buy a piece of her fashion mystique.

There’s a huge “Gaga bust candle” for $395, cookie boxes in the shape of her costumes for $85, or for $10 more a chocolate replica of the shoe she wore in the “Bad Romance” video.

Marty Balber, visiting from California, said the Gaga emporium was a one-stop shop for his six young nieces.

“I planned weeks in advance,” he said, eyeing the multi-colored fake fingernails and T-shirts. “They love that stuff.”

A quarter of sale proceeds will go to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, which aims to support youth causes.