One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Oh, Bloody Hell: Burbank Taxidermist Preserves Lady Gaga's Meat Dress For Museum Display
Lady Gaga in her meat dress Sunday night at L.A.'s Staples Center for the MTV VMA's (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
The job of preserving Lady Gaga's meat dress for display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland was tasked to Burbank taxidermist Sergio Vigilato. Despite taking more than a month to complete the work on the 35-pound monstrosity, this was not his weirdest assignment to date, according to the LA Times.
"The first thing I asked was, 'Where is the dress? This thing could have maggots by now,' " Vigilato said. "I understood them to say it was in a room with air conditioning. I said make sure it's in a freezer."
The dress, created by Los Angeles artist and designer Franc Fernandez and stylist Nicola Formichetti, was made of "a dozen thin-cut flank steaks" that had been frozen and kept on ice since its debut. However, as it defrosted, "Vigilato found that the dress had begun decomposing before it had been frozen," as was evident by its odor.
Though declining to reveal his process of cleaning and curing "museum officials said it was treated with bleach, formaldehyde and detergent to remove bacteria." Once preserved, the meat was reconditioned, reassembled, glued to a mannequin, and dyed.
Fernandez, the designer, said he purchased about 40 pounds of beef for the dress from Palermo Deli in Granada Hills, where his Sylmar parents are longtime customers. He ended up using about 35 pounds of the meat for the dress and its accompanying hat, shoes and purse. Daniel Vega, co-owner of Palermo Deli, said he selected cuts of beef that would hold together and would not be dripping blood, after Fernandez explained what he intended to do with it. The beef was priced at about $3.99 a pound, Vega said.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
