Lady Gaga says her meat dress was about fighting for her rights
There are so many stories about Lady Gaga’s crazy meat dress at the VMAs that it’s hard to know where to begin. Gaga topped herself with that getup and that’s really saying something. Let’s start with PETA’s response, which was to point out how disgusting the dress was. They didn’t attack Gaga or call her desperate as they’ve done to other celebrities and they previously gave her a near-complete pass for her meat dress in a magazine pictorial. I like PETA’s approach and think they went about this the right way for once – shockingly. PETA basically says the dress will attract maggots and stink, which is probably true and explains a lot of people’s visceral response to it:
Yes, for the record, PETA issued a statement supposing that Gaga’s meat ensemble—dress, boots, purse, hat—was likely hopping with little worms: “Meat is the decomposing flesh of a tormented animal who didn’t want to die, and after a few hours under the TV lights, it would smell like the rotting flesh it is and likely be crawling in maggots—not too attractive, really.”
[From E! Online]
E! Online has some analysis from a scientist about just how long it would take for the dress to attract maggots that would then hatch. I really don’t want to think about it, but if you’re interested you can read it there. (It reminds of that childhood song “The Worms Crawl In“)
The designer of that fabulous stomach-turning number, Franc Fernandez, has confirmed that the dress was real meat and that it came from the butcher! He told MTV “The dress is indeed real meat from my family butcher. Glad it went so well.” There are some photos below of the dress that Fernandez posted on his blog and they’ve really turned me off eating meat for at least several days. (I’m going to stick to dairy, eggs and fish for the time being as I’m not that hardcore.)
Gaga was a guest on Ellen Degeneres’ after-VMAs show, where she continued to wear that rancid dress. Ellen, a vegan, was uncomfortable being around it. Gaga explained her questionable fashion choice and somehow made it about fighting for our rights – to get a lot of publicity and buzz. “Well, it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth. However, it has many interpretations, but for me this evening … If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And I am not a piece of meat.”
What is Gaga going to wear next? I suggest a scrolling LCD text sign over her head designed and written by artist Jenny Holzer. Given the way her people work, though, they’ll probably just make up their own version and not give credit to the original artists.
Gaga photos from WENN.com
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmamlmboN6e8uam7KXl5a0oqvSmrCsl5iav6C5xJqrmJyimsC0q9aaqpiZkqTCtavFop6hrJmjtKCyzquWoZ2ilL%2Bqs8etqmg%3D