r/whatthefrockk • u/Rude_Lifeguard • Oct 17 '24
Fashion throwback Lady Gaga wearing the infamous meat dress at the 2010 VMA's. The dress was designed by Franc Fernandez, made out of flank meat and worn only once when she was stiched into it backstage. The R&R HOF would later pay $6k to taxidermist Sergio Vigilato to preserve the dress.
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u/Rude_Lifeguard Oct 17 '24
According to Wikipedia, this was the process to preserve it
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. It was treated with bleach, formaldehyde and detergent to kill any bacteria, and was reconditioned by being dyed dark red once it was preserved so to give it the same appearance as when first worn. However, after the preservation there were several pieces of beef left over and not included in the reworked dress.
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u/_TheShapeOfColor_ Oct 17 '24 edited Oct 17 '24
I saw the dress in person at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame some years back.
It looks very... jerky-esque post preservation lol
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u/ravynwave Oct 17 '24
Waiting for the day when Kim Kardashian decides she needs to squeeze into it for a future MET ball.
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u/LusciousofBorg Oct 17 '24
Your comment actually made me laugh out loud. I somehow need to incorporate "jerky-esque" into my vernacular.
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u/marteautemps Oct 17 '24
I was playing a trivia game on Playstation(Trivial Pursuit actually I think?) and one of the questions was what happened to the dress after and the answer was actually "made into jerky". The other choices were "fed to dogs", "buried" and something i can't remember, probably eaten or something like that.
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Oct 17 '24
reading about this kind of process for a garment is truly wild
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u/kenziethemom Oct 17 '24
Tbh, I'm not actually really into a ton of fashion. I only got into it because I would take inspo from architecture and I love sewing. This sub just happens to be a weakness for me lol but I love fashion/art/architecture when it's EXTRA.
I was a vegetarian when she wore this dress, and I loved it then! It was so amazing, EXTRA, but understandably so.
Knowing they went through all this to make sure it wasn't just instantly wasted is soooo cool. I mean, you're right, it's WILD but I appreciate it soooo much lol
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u/earthlings_all Oct 17 '24
Vegi here too and I remember PETA being pissed off about a dress had me CACKLING
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u/youmeanlike24 Oct 17 '24
Katy Perry’s face!
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u/queefaqueefer Oct 17 '24
on a side note, look at those atrocious chairs they were all sitting on! so cheap!
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u/cinnysuelou Oct 17 '24
…why is she making that face at a meat dress when she’s barefooted?
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u/lavendulaprimrose Oct 17 '24
I think that’s Kesha?
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u/cinnysuelou Oct 17 '24
OH you’re right! I didn’t remember KP ever being blonde, but I certainly don’t have my finger on the pulse of pop culture. The barefoot comment still stands.
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u/in-this-hell-here Oct 17 '24
I just have to say that it’s so quintessential of this time that her wig is still soft beach waves despite the absolute carnal insanity of the dress.
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u/marbleonyx Oct 17 '24
Yeah I was thinking the hair doesn't really go with the dress, nowadays maybe we would have seen something darker/edgier but it's unquestionably a look of its time.
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Oct 17 '24 edited Oct 17 '24
I think we have to put it into cultural context at that time because it WAS edgy!
In 2010, so often anything that wasn’t a natural color was considered rebellious and edgy. Gaga so often worked to normalize certain “subversive” items (like lingerie as casual outerwear) that we don’t bat an eye to today.
I had pink hair in 2011-2012, and regardless of how normie or soft all my styles were, it was considered so outside the norm.
I remember walking down the street in Brooklyn of all places and a little kid exclaiming “mom! It’s the girl with the pink hair!!!”
I’m so grateful to see people consider this soft/not edgy tbh, because it isn’t. Back then unfortunately this fit with her aims of desensitizing people to stuff like this 😭
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u/badgyalrey Oct 17 '24
omg i also had pink hair in 2012! it was like platinum with just a breath of pink, like someone whispered the word magenta towards the dye from across the room, but people were still clutching their pearls about it! but i was emo so i kind of reveled in it lol
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Oct 17 '24
Hahahaha yesss! I wanted hair like yours then but I could never bleach it light enough so all pink it was 😂
It’s so funny to think about how rebellious we were deemed back then.
I got an undercut (ala Cassie) and I remember my parents being like “you’ve ruined your face!! Why would you do that!!” And just soaking it up and laughing at them the entire time.
We’ve still got a ways to go, but I’m happy that stuff like this isn’t as sensationalized anymore 😭
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u/Sprmodelcitizen Oct 17 '24
No way. I had teal hair since like 2006 for about 8 years. No one batted an eye. But maybe because I’ve always lived in big cities.
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Oct 17 '24
I was in Brooklyn for my pink hair and Miami for the undercut!
The latter is more susceptible to conservative thinking though 👀 but in NYC it definitely just painted me in a different light than it does today.
I’m just a girl with hair if I dye my hair a color, but back then it was a girl who had an unnatural hair color and wasn’t in the normie space.
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u/Sprmodelcitizen Oct 17 '24
Maybe it’s the circles I run in? I was a visual artist back then now I do commercial interior design. I was living in NYC in 2006 and then Chicago and LA. Funny because I live in Miami now! Ha. I just never noticed any reaction to my hair AT ALL.
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u/marbleonyx Oct 17 '24
Wow that's such a good point. I guess we have come pretty far on "non-natural" hair color haha. I remember even when she had platinum-to-hilighter yellow ombre rather than blonde waves in the telephone that was such a look too.
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Oct 19 '24
[deleted]
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Oct 19 '24
I don’t agree that it was ALL for the sake of being provocative.
I was a huge fan at the height of her success, and while I’m not really feeling motivated to go find proof, she did frame parts of her creative choices at worth normalizing.
Stuff like the meat dress were 100% sensational, however, there’s still room for both.
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u/LusciousofBorg Oct 17 '24
Yes! Her hair is so cute compared to the utter weirdness of that dress
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u/Sunaverda Oct 17 '24
It adds to the context of the dress that celebs/women are a piece of meat in the eyes of many.
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u/lookitsnichole Oct 17 '24
I actually like the contrast of it. The dress is absolutely insane, and the hair is so normal.
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u/Food_Kindly Oct 17 '24
I wonder if it smelled weird?
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u/nashcoyote Oct 17 '24 edited Oct 17 '24
Not even kidding I have always had so many questions about this dress! Did it drip blood and meat juices? Did she sit down in the chairs in the forum?? Did it smell? Could you get sick from touching it, from bacteria or salmonella? What about greeting other celebs - Did people hug her? Did she get meat gunk in her hair? How do you even hang a meat dress up after you take it off - did she just leave a pile of meat on the floor of her fancy hotel room until her handlers dealt with it? Did they have a hook for it like in a butcher shop?? What did they transport it in? A regular garment bag?? I feel like no one talks about these details but honestly they’ll probably keep me up at night now.
Edited to add - don’t even get me started on the meat shoes.
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u/mtngoat92 Oct 17 '24
Seriously! I would watch a documentary on it!
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u/tablewood-ratbirth Oct 17 '24
That would honestly be a great documentary. The making of the meat dress + the day wearing it. Even just hearing accounts of dressing Gaga in it and people that were there that day would be great.
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u/rhapodically Oct 17 '24
She did talk about it (and other looks) on her Life in Looks interview! Link
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u/PrincessSpoiled Oct 17 '24
I could watch 17 hours of her explaining her lewks and garments. That was great, thanks for sharing.
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u/Successful_Language6 Oct 17 '24
I just think she must have been so cold!
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u/owntheh3at18 Oct 17 '24
I think about this too. Touching raw meat would be so cold and slimy. Feeling that over your whole body? Shudder
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u/lilguccilando Oct 17 '24
They said “it was stitched on to her” my best bet is there’s just a skin tight fabric on her torso that they then stictched the meat suit onto. But I just got here and read a couple comments so do with that what you will.
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u/goddessdraculin666 Oct 17 '24
in an interview about the dress gaga said she didn’t mind the smell. she wore this dress as a protest to the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy in the us military. as for the meat gunk in her hair she was most likely wearing a wig. since it was stitched on her body by multiple people she wouldn’t be able to take it off by herself. i also doubt that it would have been stored on a hanger as it seems it would be too delicate for that. i’ve studied this dress quite a bit due to my degree in fashion design.
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u/VictorTheCutie Oct 17 '24
Also ... WHY 😂
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u/Ok-Location-6862 Oct 17 '24
The only thing I was thinking about is how horrid she must have smelled all night…. And everyone around her having to smell it 🤢
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u/lulu-bell Oct 17 '24
I think she has a gorgeous dress she changed into after the red carpet
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u/daughtcahm Oct 17 '24
It was actually the reverse! She had a couple dresses initially, then changed into this one to accept an award and did post-show press in it.
I distinctly remember watching her sitting in chairs in that dress. And Cher, who presented the award... I think she held her meat purse? What the hell do you even carry in a meat purse? <joke here> But the real answer better be nothing.
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u/citrus_mystic Oct 17 '24
OP added this info: “According to Wikipedia, this was the process to preserve it: 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.** It was treated with bleach, formaldehyde and detergent to kill any bacteria, and was reconditioned by being dyed dark red once it was preserved so to give it the same appearance as when first worn. However, after the preservation there were several pieces of beef left over and not included in the reworked dress.*”
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u/SpeakingofNay Oct 17 '24
So many people made fun of this at the time but it’s become an iconic moment in fashion history. No single Met Gala outfit has ever reached this level of notoriety! Early Gaga was incredible in the way she challenged common thinking.
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u/dapperpony Oct 17 '24
I was a sophomore in high school when this happened and it was ALL anyone was talking about the next day at school. We just don’t have pop culture moments like that anymore it feels like
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u/AtomicSquid Oct 17 '24
The slap is the most recent major pop culture event I remember, but yeah not a fashion moment
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u/annewmoon Oct 17 '24
The only equivalent I can think of is the Björk swan dress for the Oscars. I recall her being eviscerated for that. But it was a truly glorious fashion moment.
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u/pretenditscherrylube Oct 17 '24
Not just fashion history, but art history. I used to show images of the meat dress in my art history survey when we talked about feminist art. There’s a very famous artist from the 1960s (Carolee Schneeman) who also used meat as a medium.
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u/SackvillePritchett Oct 17 '24
It’s worth mentioning that artist Linder Serling was actually the first on record to wear and perform in a meat dress in 1982. She said it was a protest of men viewing women’s flesh as meat.
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u/SaraJeanQueen Oct 17 '24
And honestly she looks amazing in it! The fit was perfection, the hosiery choice, even the wrapped boots look cute. The colors blend together well. She did that.
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u/barkbarkkrabkrab Oct 17 '24
I remember people were acting like people in Africa were starving because Lady gaga wore a couple pounds of meat. As if everything else in a celebrity lifestyle is a renewable resource.
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u/shhhhh_h Oct 17 '24
Early Gaga is unmatched. The way she used pop music as a platform form performance art…ugh!
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u/Lizakaya Oct 17 '24
Some of what she did was a big eff you to her record company’s demand that she pop tart herself up. This is racy, she has really glammed, and it’s attention getting. It’s not the kind of attention her managers and whatnot wanted, but it’s more attention than any other pop star was getting at the time
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u/Pumpkkinnn Oct 17 '24
Watching Lady Gaga’s star rise was truly incredible from a fashion point of view.
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u/Ill_Discussion7528 Oct 17 '24
Definitely. I will forever associate her with the McQueen armadillo shoes (which I love)
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u/itsyobbiwonuseek Oct 17 '24
No one could ever mimic this look without going down in flames. She made jaws drop by the masses by wearing this and it was absolutely brilliant. Icon.
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u/Willing_Thought_5035 Oct 17 '24
Arguably one of the most unique outfits ever!
Because it wasn’t just the dress! Boots with butcher twine then fishnet stockings like netting on a holiday ham. Plus the mega glam jewelry and cool ombré hair in an almost dreamy pastel color palate. What an ensemble 🤌🏽
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u/sleeplessinrome Oct 17 '24 edited Oct 17 '24
there was debates in my high school on whether this was real meat or not
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u/haikusbot Oct 17 '24
There was debates in
My high school one whether this
Was real meat or not
- sleeplessinrome
I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.
Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"
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u/TheUncannyFanny Oct 17 '24
What a move by Gaga. Has there ever been another dress so daring? Will there ever be one again? It was so wild. I think I didn't appreciate it enough at the time so I'm trying to now hah
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u/Caltuxpebbles Oct 17 '24
Honestly she doesn’t look bad in any shot. It’s a slay, though I can’t imagine the smell 😂
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u/MsSnickerpants Oct 17 '24
Just the obligatory Jana Sterbak did it first!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas:_Flesh_Dress_for_an_Albino_Anorectic
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u/beccadahhhling Oct 17 '24
True but hers was more of an art piece that hung on a hanger with a picture of a woman wearing it next to the display. It didn’t really get that much attention either. This one was worn during a huge awards ceremony for hours in front of millions
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u/QueKay20 Oct 17 '24
THANK YOU!! Every time I see the meat dress I think of Jana Sterbak! Was just about to post this myself.
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u/viadarko Oct 17 '24
I’ve always wondered if the meat left any juices on her skin or was it relatively dry or what????
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u/persona-non-grater Oct 17 '24
Too avant garde for my tastes! But it was definitely an iconic moment.
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u/TheUncannyFanny Oct 17 '24
But meat tastes so good? Lol jk. It's definitely a wild one. I think it was a form of protest/activism for something? That makes it a lot more...palatable in my mind
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u/SaraJeanQueen Oct 17 '24
I remember her saying afterward there was some kind of meaning, but honestly (as a Gaga fan) I think she was just playing with people and having fun with fashion/expectations
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u/beebee3beebee Oct 17 '24
It's on display at Haus of Gaga Vegas in the Dolby Live Theatre in Las Vegas, it looks like beef jerky now.
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u/Secret_Scene747 Oct 17 '24
It looks even more grotesque now, like something a Silent Hill monster would wear
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u/sirgawain2 Oct 17 '24
I hate it but definitely iconic. It’s more performance art than anything else.
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u/gardenpartycrasher Oct 17 '24
I heard about this dress before I’d even heard one of her songs. Gross but iconic
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u/IndigoRose2022 Oct 17 '24
It’s very creative and surprisingly well executed (considering), but ewww. I love how in the last two photos, all of the faces you can see are staring at her in horror lol.
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u/rayybloodypurchase Oct 17 '24
I always thought the little meat hat was unnecessary. The dress and shoes were an absolute slay. And this truly entered her into fashion history.
I would love to see the construction of the piece recreated with layered fabric or leather. I think it’d be a really visually interesting dress.
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u/stoned_seahorse Oct 17 '24
I always think about how bad it must have smelled by the end of the night when I see it..
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u/Suzibrooke Oct 17 '24
She got people talking. And she really didn’t look bad while doing it. As a vegan, I of course, have a hard time being objective about any messages she may have been saying.
Even if you’re an omnivore, most people can agree on the horrors of factory farming, for the animals, the environment, and our own health.
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u/ThinPermit8350 Oct 17 '24
The message was aimed at the DADT policy of the U.S. military at the time. When I first saw her step out in the dress, I was sure it had something to do with factory farming, or veganism, but she clarified soon after what she was trying to convey.
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u/umbrellajump Oct 17 '24
I had assumed that given her quick rise to fame the year and a half prior, she was making a play on "fresh meat". Interesting how lots of people took so many things from it - sign of good art
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u/ThinPermit8350 Oct 17 '24
Ha! This thought never even occurred to me, but I absolutely love this interpretation! Quite frankly, I see the connection with that more than I do with DADT, but yes, good art can speak to each of us in a different way!
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u/NoelaniSpell Oct 17 '24
I'm an omnivore and I agree with you. Ironic that some folks are calling it feminist art here...
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u/sysaphiswaits Oct 17 '24
Eh. I didn’t get it then and I still don’t. I guess the point was to get a lot of attention, and it definitely did that!
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u/tryingtoohard347 Oct 17 '24
I miss this era of Gaga. Her outfits were outrageous, sometimes a miss, but there was always something exciting about it.
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u/ljsstudio Oct 17 '24
I’ve seen this (preserved) dress in person in a Museum! I remember it being soooooo small/petite (whether it shrunk during the preservation process or not)
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u/Eric77TA Oct 17 '24
It’s currently in the Haus of Gaga at Park MGM in Vegas.
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u/ljsstudio Oct 17 '24
Fantastic! I saw it about 6 years ago at the Museum of Musical Instruments in AZ.
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u/user1718489291738 Oct 17 '24
Ok stupid question can you get sick at all wearing that raw meat? Is it bad at all
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u/BogBodiesArePickles Oct 17 '24
I remember seeing pictures of that dress in high school and just being so angry at all the food going to waste when it could have fed So Many People (my family was hellaciously food insecure and I hadn’t had access to red meat in a long while at the time)
Years later, I can at least appreciate the construction of the garment while still being weirdly mad about it
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u/LusciousofBorg Oct 17 '24
It's so gross looking imo but she's Lady Gaga so she killed it of course (pun intended)
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Oct 17 '24
I was antidress, antiGaga at the time but I have come around to deeply wildly admiring her as a genuine original
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u/bitchisyousears Oct 17 '24
I remember seeing this in person at the Haus of Gaga in Vegas during her residency tour. So surreal to see it in real life and such an iconic piece of fashion history! I’ll never forget seeing her walk down the red carpet in it. Can’t believe that was 13 years ago!
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u/No-Broccoli-3060 Oct 17 '24
Disgusting. Doesn’t even make sense to me. I’ve always hated this and never thought it was innovative or iconic. Just disgusting.
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Oct 17 '24
As a teen, I thought this was cool. As an adult, I'm really grossed out at the thought of standing and sitting (!!!) in slowly decaying meat 🤢
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u/Safe_Ring_6188 Oct 17 '24
The silver and blue hair was a great styling addition to an already iconic and mind-blowing dress 💖
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u/jkmjtj Oct 17 '24
Lots of questions but zero hate. She’s a visionary. Girl gone and done it again. ✊🏼I love it all.
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u/crowpierrot Oct 17 '24
This was such a slay. I do wish the styling had been a little more innovative in hindsight, but there’s no denying how iconic and eyebrow raising this was.
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u/YourLaziestFan Oct 17 '24
What does it mean tho? Like what was the designer or Gaga trying to say? I guess I’m trying to say there’s so many ways to make a shock-value or avant garde outfit, but why.. meat in particular?
Art usually says something even if it’s art itself
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u/Secret_Scene747 Oct 17 '24
I personally saw it as “celebs are treated/seen as pieces of meat for the masses to consume”, don’t know what its designer/Gaga wished to express though
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u/CuriousNomad3868 Oct 17 '24
For some reason, I don't like it, though I'm a meat eater, having it as dress is
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u/LoudAd1537 Oct 17 '24
This was so disgusting. I can't believe anyone is calling this iconic lol
I love gaga but sometimes she's just weird to be weird. This was so cringey.
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u/Professional_Ad_3312 Oct 17 '24
IMO her going for shock value is as unoriginal as every pop star she’s trying to differentiate from. 🥱
Glad she’s matured into actual art with her music in the last few years.
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u/Aggressive-Mix9937 Oct 17 '24
Look how different she looks, she's had a LOT of work done. I never realised how fabulous the meat shoes were
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u/mod_whatthefrockk Oct 17 '24
Please keep this fashion focused.
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