Two weeks ago, news broke that three pairs of Alexander McQueen’s iconic Armadillo boots were going up for auction. The shoes featured in McQueen’s SS10 show, his last ever, and were worn by Lady Gaga in her “Bad Romance” music video. 21 pairs were made, three of which appeared in Christie’s Handbag and Accessories auction last week. And guess who put in the winning bid – none other than Mother Monster herself. In a memo written for V Magazine, Gaga has revealed her feelings on the acquisition: 

“There is no diamond, no award, nothing I ever wanted more than a memory of my brief friendship with McQueen. I am sad every day that I enter my closet, knowing he is not here anymore to dazzle the world with his beautiful, dark, limitless, brave mind. These shoes are the only tangible piece I have left of our work together. They came to me this morning, after a dream I had again about him. As the dream goes, I enter my closet and his clothes are no longer there. I’m tortured. The loss is deep. Mourning in my own way constantly, why he is gone, he was so talented. I hate the empty space, not only in fashion, but in the creative consciousness that fizzled when he passed. This morning I got the call I would now be the caregiver to three pairs of armadillo platforms, just like the kind I wore in the “Bad Romance” video, the shoes from his crescendo collection “Plato’s Atlantis,” the ones that made everyone gasp from the front row because they had NEVER seen something like them before. I was reminded this morning that he is still here. He is everywhere. In every store window. In the designs of commercial mainstream retail, fashion, in music, in the heart of every young designer that wishes he could be as free and as fearless as McQueen was. I cried all morning, convinced he was with me. Convinced that I’m loved from somewhere far beyond the eternal body and mind, outside of all the chaos. He wanted me to have them. They made their way back to me. I am here today not just because of my talent, but because he believed in me. My weird brand of art pop manic expression of my emotions was the part of me he knew he taught me. I will be grateful long after I pass and join him wherever it is they put souls like us. Long live McQueen.”

It’s not the first time Gaga has paid tribute to McQueen – at the 2010 Brit Awards she dedicated her performance to the late designer, singing with dulcet tones “We miss you so badly...”

h/t vmagazine.com

Watch Lady Gaga “Bad Romance” below: