Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesI’m not one to follow the fashion follies of Lady Gaga, but the meaty getup the singer wore to the MTV Video Music Awards the other night made me think of another artist who has been working in carnivorous creations for quite some time.
In 2004, the Turkish-born photographer Pinar Yolacan presented “Perishables,” a series of portraits of older women posing in various outfits made from meat — one woman models a sweater with honeycombed tripe sleeves, another wears a Victorian style buttoned-up blouse garnished with chicken feet at the waist. What makes these pieces more beautiful than grotesque (for me, at least) is the way Yolacan delicately blends flesh with fabric. The artist, who did a stint at Central Saint Martins in London, elegantly drapes the clothing on the subjects’ bodies; the flesh of the meat eerily matches the skin of the model — wrinkled, crinkled and creased. There is a real beauty in Yolacan’s display of decay.
Lady Gaga’s ensemble, on the other hand, was created by the Los Angeles-based designer Franc Fernandez (it was commissioned by the singer’s stylist, Nicola Formichetti), who wrapped 50 pounds of sirloin around a corset structure. Rather than Gaga’s usual stab at the surreal, the marbled meat pattern and the strange beefy tails flapping at the bottom suggested some kind of late seventies tie dye rocker chick outfit. And although the butcher string on the steak stilettos was a clever touch, Gaga’s reason for wearing the outfit — “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in, if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones” — was pretty much malarkey in my book. In fact, the most outrageous gesture on her part was having Cher hold her bedazzled meat clutch during her acceptance speech.
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