Nicola met Gaga in 2009 for the The Beauty Issue of V shot by Sebastian Faena . He gave her the Nasir Mazhar orb hat and she wore it straight away on The Ellen DeGeneres Show the next day. At the beginning of their collaboration, Nicola had to use his name in order to secure clothes for Gaga as many designers were reluctant at first.The two became best friends and did their first collaboration at the MuchMusic Video Awards in 2009. He became a part of the Haus and was one of three most known members along with Laurieann Gibson and Matthew Williams.