Inside Lady Gaga's Glam Style Squad, the Haus of Gaga: 'We Are Like a Family'

If there is one thing that is certain of Lady Gaga‘s style, it’s that the star knows how powerful fashion can be when cultivating an image — and changing one.

The artist known to use fashion as a vehicle to shock, provoke and awe has shape-shifted once again while promoting her critically-acclaimed role in A Star Is Born. Now elevated elegance is her modus operandi, and her recent high-fashion red carpet looks have only solidified this era as the icon’s most glamorous style reinvention yet. It’s a metamorphosis so inspiring, PEOPLE named her the Queen of Fashion in its new Red Carpet Special, out this week.

How does she continue to transform before our eyes? For help with that, she turns to the Haus of Gaga, the elite creative collective she formed during her musical career to bring her style vision to life. Right now, it’s spearheaded by Tom Eerebout and Sandra Amador as lead stylists, Sarah Tanno as makeup artist and Frederic Aspiras as hairstylist.

“We are like a family,” Aspiras tells PEOPLE in the special issue’s cover story. “It is very sacred, and we are very protective of each other. But we’re also pretty laid-back, and we’re all so humble. In the tough times, we always have each other’s shoulders to cry on. It’s very special.”

While some members have left to continue their careers throughout the Haus’s existence — such as Brandon Maxwell, who launched a successful fashion label and Nicola Formichetti, who went on to lead global fashion houses like Mugler and Diesel — many of those in the Haus have worked together for nearly a decade or more.

“She’s such a giving human being, that’s why I’ve been with her for so long,” Aspiras says. “It’s more than a professional relationship — she’s a friend. She’s one of the sweetest, dearest friends I’ve ever had.”

In fact, it was the strength of the Haus’s synergy that sparked Cooper to cast members of the Haus as the glam squad to Gaga’s character Ally in A Star Is Born. “It worked so naturally,” Aspiras says.

As for the Haus’s ability to deliver Gaga’s constant reincarnations, makeup artist Sarah Tanno credits that to “always being on the same wavelength,” she told PEOPLE. “Our aesthetic of what we think is beautiful is very similar, which is why we work so well together.”

Now, as she prepares to culminate her A Star Is Born awards season circuit at the Academy Awards on Feb. 24. — all while juggling a new residency in Las Vegas — those behind the Haus of Gaga assure the best is yet to come.

“I’m so proud of her, there are so many things “The Haus” has accomplished and done — it’s nice to know you have people around you that you have known for a long time that you trust and that you believe in and that they believe in you,” says Aspiras.

“We have this long history of this amazing body of work that we’re so proud of,” says Aspiras, “and there’s a lot more to do.”