The powerful message behind Lady Gaga’s iconic meat dress

How Gaga's meat dress was about queer rights

Transcript

00:00Was it one step backwards for veganism, or a huge leap forward for the queer community?

00:05Lady Gaga wore her meat dress in 2010, one year and eight days before the Don't Ask, Don't Tell

00:11Act was finally repealed. This was an act which banned gay members of the army from being open

00:16about their sexuality. Gaga said,

00:18We don't fight for our rights. Pretty soon, we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our

00:23bones.

00:23It was something that, you know, I feel like I understood. And I remember having

00:27conversations with my parents, I think, trying to be like, how could you not understand what

00:31she's trying to do?

00:33And as she walked the carpet wearing her initial outfit of the night, which represented a fully

00:38intact animal, she was helped by service members who had been discharged from the armed forces

00:42for unjust causes. Okay, let's address the hygiene issues. Well, the dress designer,

00:47Frank Fernandez, specifically chose thin cuts of flank steak to ensure that the dress didn't end

00:53up smelling too bad. A thin cut also helped with the design.

00:56You don't want to look like, I don't know, a filet mignon.

00:59It was also kept in a cooler until the moment Gaga stepped into it. The dress required Gaga

01:03to be stitched into the outfit backstage, and this was her first time trying it on.

01:08Once worn, Gaga's dress, too precious to be held to a pack of hungry bears, was preserved

01:13by taxidermists as a type of jerky. It was treated with bleach, formaldehyde, and detergent to kill

01:19any bacteria. Gaga went on the Ellen Show in her dress. Ellen was definitely reluctant to give her

01:24a hug hello. She said, it was really difficult for me to sit next to Lady Gaga while she was

01:29wearing that outfit. But it did make me ask myself, what's the difference between her outfit

01:33and an outfit made of leather? Gaga's look might not have been food for a vegan,

01:36or anyone else for that matter, but it was definitely food for thought.