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The powerful message behind Lady Gaga’s iconic meat dress
The Independent
Follow
11/8/2024
How Gaga's meat dress was about queer rights
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News
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00:00
Was it one step backwards for veganism, or a huge leap forward for the queer community?
00:05
Lady Gaga wore her meat dress in 2010, one year and eight days before the Don't Ask, Don't Tell
00:11
Act was finally repealed. This was an act which banned gay members of the army from being open
00:16
about their sexuality. Gaga said,
00:18
We don't fight for our rights. Pretty soon, we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our
00:23
bones.
00:23
It was something that, you know, I feel like I understood. And I remember having
00:27
conversations with my parents, I think, trying to be like, how could you not understand what
00:31
she's trying to do?
00:33
And as she walked the carpet wearing her initial outfit of the night, which represented a fully
00:38
intact animal, she was helped by service members who had been discharged from the armed forces
00:42
for unjust causes. Okay, let's address the hygiene issues. Well, the dress designer,
00:47
Frank Fernandez, specifically chose thin cuts of flank steak to ensure that the dress didn't end
00:53
up smelling too bad. A thin cut also helped with the design.
00:56
You don't want to look like, I don't know, a filet mignon.
00:59
It was also kept in a cooler until the moment Gaga stepped into it. The dress required Gaga
01:03
to be stitched into the outfit backstage, and this was her first time trying it on.
01:08
Once worn, Gaga's dress, too precious to be held to a pack of hungry bears, was preserved
01:13
by taxidermists as a type of jerky. It was treated with bleach, formaldehyde, and detergent to kill
01:19
any bacteria. Gaga went on the Ellen Show in her dress. Ellen was definitely reluctant to give her
01:24
a hug hello. She said, it was really difficult for me to sit next to Lady Gaga while she was
01:29
wearing that outfit. But it did make me ask myself, what's the difference between her outfit
01:33
and an outfit made of leather? Gaga's look might not have been food for a vegan,
01:36
or anyone else for that matter, but it was definitely food for thought.
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