In 1991 Montreal Artist Jane Sterbak’s piece “Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic” hung in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, ON I wonder if Lady Gaga knew of this reference when she decided to have “the House of Gaga” design it for her?? Frankly I think Sterbak’s message was far more intellectual. “Vanity vs. Bodily Decay” What the hell did Gaga tell Ellen DeGeneres it was about?? “… 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.” WTF???
Lady Gaga is a talented girl but that does not make any sense.
Even back 1991 Sterbak’s dress caused a great deal of flack.
Fat Feminist Activist Artist's Blog 
Actually, the earliest meat dress I know of was Ann Simonton’s, at 2 years of the “alternative pageant” or counter-pageant/demonstration against the Miss California pageant in Santa Cruz in the 1970s/early 1980s. The counter-pageant, organized by Nikki Craft and Simonton, a former top model, ran the Miss California Pageant out of Santa Cruz. It is now held annually in Southern California. For two years, Simonton wore meat dresses made of cold-cuts and meat links. You can see it in a video of the counter-pageant, Myth California, on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agyEAhwrVUU
(Please note the revolving statue of penises with flags sticking out of them, in the video, lol.) This was an art project for Nikki Craft, which you might appreciate 🙂
P.S. Thank you for your work as a fat feminist artist. So needed! I completely agree with you about Michelle Obama – thanks a lot, Michelle, for making our lives, and especially the lives of children, worse, by policing their food, criticizing their bodies, and racheting up their fear of food, weight, and their body size. I think Michelle publicly criticizing her daughters’ body size on the national stage is nothing short of severe child abuse.
Thanks again for your work.
Thanks so much for your info about the history of meat dresses and of course the link and new artist to look up…I’ll have to look back at what I wrote about Michelle Obama…did I mention the wonderful bag I found at a Dada Sale that has a picture of her on it?? lol…I seriously need to dig that up and do my grocery shopping with it. Oh at the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame I found a magnetic dress Michelle Obama kit…that just seemed so surreal and kind of naughty…I haven’t cracked the seal to see what she looks like in her underwear…but I might have to put a little magnetic scale in the package so she can weigh herself. http://www.stupid.com/fun/MRAM09.html