Iconic Fashion Moments: Lady Gaga's Meat Dress

Source: Cosmopolitan

The VMA’s never shy away from iconic moments. From the Taylor-Kanye altercation to the Christina-Madonna-Britney kiss the MTV award show celebrating music video accomplishments has never been the MET Gala. Rather, the VMA's is the time to experiment with fashion and performance choices. The VMA’s are the time to do something shocking.

Shocking is exactly the word to describe Lady Gaga when she stepped on the carpet wearing a dress and accessories entirely made out of raw meat.  

It was the 2010 video music awards, Justin Beiber was 16, “Tik Tok” by Kesha was the #1 song of the year, the first episode of Pretty Little Liars aired, Prince William and Kate Middleton had just gotten engaged and Lady Gaga was wearing THE meat dress. 

The dress was designed by Franc Fernandez, an Argentine artist who is most well known for the Meat Dress but has also designed Avant-Garde looks for the likes of stars like Beyonce. It is also important to know that this occasion was not the first or last time Gaga had worn meat, before the VMA’s she had worn a meat bikini on the cover of Japanese Vogue, and afterward, she wore fabric styled like meat on the Born This Way tour. 

The dress was met with responses from almost every media outlet, it caught people's attention and elicited a response. This is the definition of performance art, and as Gaga is a performance artist is it no question that this was one of her desires. These responses were both positive and negative. PETA, an animal rights activist organization commented on the dress saying, "Wearing a dress made out cuts of dead cows is offensive enough to bring comment, but someone should whisper in her ear that there are more people who are upset by butchery than who are impressed by it -- and that means a lot of young people will not be buying her records if she keeps this stuff up." (according to Billboard magazine) But the response from many animal rights activists didn't snuff out the positive response as, “Time magazine named it the best fashion statement of the year, while a poll from a UK fashion website named it the most iconic outfit of the year” according to Huffington Post. And any controversy that did come from the dress eventually fell out as she has won Best Original Song at the Oscars and sang the National Anthem at Joe Biden's inauguration, so clearly, her status as a pop culture icon has remained steadfast. 

There have many many interpretations of the meat dress, some cynics saying it was an attempt at an attention grab. But according to Gaga, the truth is that “It has many interpretations, but for me this evening it's [saying], 'If we don't stand up for what we believe in, if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as many rights as the meat on our bones.” Essentially what this means is the dress was a protest and piece of performance art being used to speak out against the “Don't ask Don't Tell” rule in the milliary, prohibiting discussion of LGBTQ+ activities or emotions. Essentially, the rule kept LGBTQ+ people out of the military. Gaga is and has been an LGBTQ+ activist and ally for her entire career speaking up about issues the community faces. From speeches at concerts to the song “Born This Way” to a dress made out of raw meat, Lady Gaga has been a champion for marginalized peoples when no one else would be.  

Finally: my thoughts. I a thousand percent believe in Gaga’s message and the way she went about was just so utterly and perfectly… Lady Gaga. I also think there are many more ways to care for animals and ensure they are taken care of in a humane manner than coming for Lady Gaga for wearing a dress made out of meat. Considering that the amount of meat that was on the dress is probably thrown out every day at various restaurants. And the sources of the meat from those restaurants are probably far less ethical than the meat Gaga used. All this to say: there are bigger steaks to grill. 

This meat dress will go down in history as one of the most iconic and memorable dresses of this century, that is, if the meat industry and close-minded people don’t kill us all first.