The “Summertime Sadness” singer ran into a fan who had dressed up as her in a Waffle House uniform, a reference to Del Rey’s famous appearance at the chain in July, and snapped a selfie with the fan for posterity.
Photos of the moment show Del Rey posing alongside the fan, makeup artist Sandy Ganzer, who shared the shots on her Instagram this week. One picture shows Ganzer in her full costume, fashioned to mimic photos and video taken of Del Rey when the singer was spotted mysteriously walking around an Alabama Waffle House dressed in an employee uniform.
“Waffle House employee shirt purchased on Ebay: $28.60. Pepsi bottle and fun little straw purchased last minute at CVS: $9. Waffle House ‘Lana’ name tag sticker: $5.59. Attending a halloween party dressed as ‘Lana Del Rey kicking’ it at Waffle House’ and she’s there in real life: Priceless,” Ganzer captioned the post. “Thank you for having a sense of humor about it @honeymoon, you’re a Queen.”
Both of the Halloween party photos were taken by Del Rey, said Ganzer, who has done makeup for Hunter Schafer, Kendall Jenner and Sydney Sweeney.
In July, Del Rey befuddled the internet when images surfaced showing the Grammy-nominated pop singer presumably working at a Waffle House in Florence, Ala. She wore an employee uniform, complete with a name tag, as she took orders from and sang with customers.
Last month, the singer finally explained the images, telling the Hollywood Reporter that on the day of her appearance, she had been hanging out at the Waffle House for several hours with her brother and sister, who live in the area.
“We were on our third hour, and the servers asked, ‘Do you guys want shirts?’” Del Rey said. “Hell yeah! We were thrilled.”
The servers then prompted Del Rey to serve a regular, bringing over his usual order: a Coke with no ice and an empty cup for spitting chewing tobacco.
“I didn’t see anyone take a video of me,” she added.
Even so, LaShawn Tuttle, an employee at the chain, did snap a selfie with Del Rey, who knowingly smiled with her. Tuttle, who also had shared video of Del Rey singing with the regular customer, said in a since-deleted Facebook post that Del Rey had met her while shopping at a thrift store the previous day and decided to visit Tuttle at work, according to the Daily Mail.
Njeri Boss, a Waffle House executive, confirmed to The Times that Del Rey was never formally employed by the chain and referred to the singer’s comments to THR.
“She came into the restaurant and had a good experience, and what happened after that was just a part of her good experience that she had,” Boss said. “And it took on a life of its own.”