As Christopher Knight pointed out, Lady Gaga’s meat dress is set firmly in repeat mode. Jana Sterbak sewed wet, raw red muscle into a garment in 1987. (Photos of both items on the Knight link.)
Knight:
Sterbak’s Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorexic is now in the
collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris’ modern art museum —
an appropriate locale, given that city’s intersection of art and
fashion. Most recently it has been on view in the exhibition “elles@centrepompidou,” a changing year-long survey dedicated to women artists.
What’s striking about Gaga’s look is the shoes. (Image via John Perreault on facebook.)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is unhappy, and best health practice is an issue too. (Art doesn’t have to be nice or good for you.)
Maggot infestation can happen quickly on raw meat at room temperature and will develop faster with heat, accelerated by being close to skin and under hot lights,” says Dr. Shawki Ibrahim, chief scientific advisor for Grow Green Industries. Plus, “the dress is definitely puts her at an E.coli risk if she had a cut on her skin, but otherwise it’s just the stink factor.” (more)
Aside from spectacular discomfort, dressing in crockery has no downside.
I also like the hat, via Evan Blackwell, artist unknown, from the Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai.
I thought of Mark Ryden’s meat dress too. He has used meat for years as a creepy image. http://www.markryden.com/paintings/index.html
Actually, Ann Simonton beat Sterbak in this particular fashion trend by a good five years- she was arrested in 1982 for wearing a dress made of meat, protesting the Miss California pageant in Santa Cruz.
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/09.26.01/guide-onlysc-0139.html
Another Meat Suit:
Zhang Huan’s “New York” Whitney Performance, 2002.
“A body builder will build up strength over the course of decades, becoming formidable in this way. I, however, become Mr. Olympic Body Builder overnight.”
http://www.zhanghuan.com/ShowWorkContent.asp?id=19&iParentID=16&mid=1