Remember the beef jerky evening gown Lady Gaga used to stink up the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards last September? Of course, you do. After all, the pop hitmaker was wearing it when she announced plans to release Born This Way, the studio album that’s gone on to achieve platinum-selling status. Well, Music Fans, if you’ll be in Cleveland this week, you may have a chance to cozy up to that fateful piece of carnivore couture when Gaga’s infamous “Meat Dress” goes on public display for the first time at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday.The dress, hand-sewn by designers Franc Fernandez and Nichola Formichetti, will be included in the “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” exhibit, taking place at the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum from 9 AM to 10 AM on Thursday. The interactive exhibit will feature items from over 70 artists, highlighting women who have impacted rock & roll history and American pop culture.
Fernandez used 50 pounds of meat to create the dress over three days, refrigerating the completed sections in between sessions. But the “PokerFace” hitmaker raised the ire of animal rights activists with the controversial ensemble. Outspoken anti-cruelty group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were particularly incensed over the outfit.
“In her line of business, Lady Gaga has a hard time being ‘over the top,’ and wearing a dress made from cuts of dead cows is offensive enough to bring comment, but someone should whisper in her ear that there are more people upset by butchery than impressed by it—and that means a lot of young people will not be buying her records if she keeps it up. On the other hand, maybe it was fake, and she’ll talk about that later,” the organization said at the time. “Meat is the decomposing flesh of an abused animal who didn’t want to die, and after time spent under the TV lights, it would smell like the rotting flesh that it is and likely be crawling in maggots—not too attractive, really. If Lady Gaga continues to wear meat, the perfect accessory would be a PETA vegetarian/vegan starter kit. A lot of people will take one look and want one. It’s sending lots of people to PETA.org to download our kit, so I guess we should be glad.”