Lady Gaga had a tattoo inked into her newly-shaved head in front of a live audience last night.

The "Born This Way" hitmaker had an image of a cherub wearing a crown etched into the back of her head at New York's Solomon R Guggenheim Museum as part of the launch for her new perfume Fame, and tattooist Mark Mahoney says the design is a nod to her Italian roots. Mark - who was helped by his assistant Wes Brown - explained, "It's kind of a Renaissance era cherub, a nod to her Italian heritage."

Gaga - whose real name is Stefani Germanotta - put on a number of live art installation features during the evening to launch the scent, which included the singer arriving at the venue inside a replica of her perfume bottle, inside which she was asleep on a bed. A sign was placed outside the bottle stating, "Touch Lady Gaga's hand, but please don't wake her."

Party goers were then encouraged to put their hand inside the bottle and touch the 26-year-old star, a process which lasted an hour before the tattooists got to work on her latest inking while she was still inside the object.

Earlier in the evening, Gaga made a dramatic entrance to the museum by arriving in a vintage black Cadillac and she showed off her bottom in a black sheer dress as she got out of the vehicle to enter the venue.