Beef cheek meat
The meat dress was a dress made beef cheek meat raw beef worn by the American singer Lady Gaga at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. The press speculated on the originality of the idea, with comparisons made to similar images found in contemporary art and popular culture. As with her other dresses, it was archived, but went on display in 2011 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after being preserved by taxidermists as a type of jerky.
Fernandez was approached by fellow designer and stylist Formichetti to produce the dress, with it planned out over the course of a week, Formichetti having styled the look. The dress was asymmetrical, with a cowled neck. Fernandez said of his design, “I knew the dress would be one of other amazing pieces Gaga wore that night. It’s very well made and looked great on her, on and off camera. We didn’t get a chance to have a fitting. The only time she had it on was for the VMAs. Only when I saw it in the monitor did I know it would be big.
Fernandez reporting Gaga’s opinion in an interview said that Gaga herself said it smelled good, because it smelled like meat. The designer talked of what was to happen to the dress after the awards show, “The dress will be put in an archive with all of her dresses. It won’t last, that’s the beauty of it. 6,000 to taxidermist Sergio Vigilato to preserve the dress. It had been frozen following the two television appearances, although Vigilato discovered signs of decomposition on the dress which had occurred prior to it being frozen, and noted it was emitting an odor once it was defrosted. Preceding Fernandez’s creation, Gaga had worn a bikini made of meat on the front cover of the Japanese edition of Vogue. Following the VMAs, media outlets attempted to analyse the meaning of the dress with suggestions by BBC News ranging from anti-fashion, to feminism, aging and decay, and society’s attitude towards meat.
Some media sources proposed that the dress could be interpreted as anti-vegan. Another controversy surrounding the dress was the question of its originality. Meat dresses have featured in art and music for decades prior to Lady Gaga’s version. Brooks Barnes of The New York Times claimed that Lady Gaga’s dress was “derived” from Incarnation, a 2009 painting of a white-haired girl wearing a meat dress by artist Mark Ryden. Although it was Gaga’s third costume change at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, the meat dress was immediately described as the “most outrageous fashion moment” of the evening. Fernandez credits the dress with an upturn in his career, saying, “I feel like I have a voice now as an artist and as a designer”.
He had previously created items for Gaga, including a costume for her music video for “Bad Romance”. The dress went on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 2011 as part of an exhibition entitled “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power”. Lady Gaga Meat Dress Designer Tells How To Re-Create His VMA Look”. Music Piracy: Lady Gaga Is To Blame”. Lady Gaga Meat Dress Designer’s Lips Are Zipped About Animal Rights”.
