That old debate over Lady Gaga ripping off Grace Jones's style may have fizzled out like it was some - oh, I dunno, inconsequential bitchy spat between a pair of stroppy divas - but the pop-performance artist's audacious style hit the headlines again this week. She's got Peta's goat for appearing on the cover of this month's Japanese Men's Vogue draped in raw meat (incidentally, any expert opinions on the cut? Skirt steak?).
Involving fashion, celebrity and semi-nudity as it does, it is perfect territory for fundamentalist animal liberation rights activists to get all worked up about.
But this has all been done before. The use of raw meat in musicians' photoshoots goes back decades, America's Next Top Model, not exactly known as a paragon of innovation, ran a meat fashion shoot in 2008. And for years now, the world wide interweb has been awash with young people styling bacon bras, salami dresses, meat trainers and hats as you can see in this here gallery. I like the attention to detail on this cooked bacon bra with added bow styling more than Gaga's effort.
George Monbiot may have given us hope that with some changes to our farming systems we can once again consume meat with a clear conscience. Whether we can justify styling clothes out of them is, of course, another question. What's the most inappropriate use of meat you've seen? (And please, people, let's keep this clean ... ) I know there are better efforts out there than Gaga's raggedy dress.
