Lady Gaga Meat Dress Designer's Lips Are Zipped About Animal Rights

Franc Fernandez is the man behind the controversial meat dress made from 40 pounds of flank steak that Lady Gaga wore to the September 12th MTV Video Music Awards. The 24-year-old also designed the diamond burlesque outfit worn by Gaga in the "Bad Romance" video. So who is Fernandez and how did he get the gig dressing Gaga? I contacted him to get the scoop.

MP: Where did you grow up?
FF: I moved to outside of Los Angeles [San Fernando Valley] when I was eight from Argentina.

MP: You started as a hatmaker?
FF: I've always done some sort of visual work. It started with graphic design, then architecture. I think a combination of the two lead to my flavor of millinery.

MP: You didn't go to fashion school, right?
FF: No fashion school experience.

MP: How did you start working with Gaga's stylist Nicola Formichetti?
FF: I contacted Nicola a while back showing him my work. He later called me to work on Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video -- making the diamond ensemble. Gaga and Nicola call and say they want to be covered in diamonds or covered in meat. I'm always happy to work with Gaga.

MP: What kinds of meat did you use for the dress?
FF: Matumbre. I don't know called in English. It's not bloody, it's not smelly and it holds really well.

MP: Did you anticipate the reaction the dress would have?
FF: I knew the dress would be one of other amazing pieces Gaga wore that night. It's very well made and looked great on her -- on and off camera. We didn't get a chance to have a fitting. The only time she had it on was for the VMAs. Only when I saw it in the monitor did I know it would be big.

MP: How has the reaction been?
FF: Half and half [negative and positive] -- that's where you want to be when you're making art. It's just a meat dress. I don't think that it's way too involved.

MP: Did you anticipate the response you would get from animal rights groups?
FF: Could we not answer that question at all?

MP: Why did you choose to make the dress into beef jerky?
FF: The dress is more beautiful if it's naturally aged.

MP: What are you working on now?
FF: I'm currently doing art direction for Sam Sparro. He's getting ready to release an [EP] that's titled "Pink Cloud," which is a sort-of homage to house-music. I've designed the packaging, and am in the post-production for the music video at the moment.

MP: What's been your favorite creation during your design career?
FF: I can't say I have a favorite piece, I love whatever it is I'm working on at the time. The recent meat dress is really-well constructed piece and of course [it] has gotten a lot of attention.

Check out images of Gaga and Fernandez's now-famous dress:

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OFFENSIVE! ART!

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Franc Fernandez:

 

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Comments

[Candi Cj Dubord Jensen]

04:01 AM on 09/29/2010

I love her songs..and I get a kick out of her costumes..but...a dress of raw meat is just wrong on so many levels...I was more than a little disgusted when I saw that one....even my 10y/o daughter was like "WHAT was she thinking?!?!"
Lagy Gaga, the meat dress= BARF (of epic portions)

[snoopjohnny]

04:07 PM on 09/27/2010

Wonder how many people are going to run to the butcher this halloween with a swell costume idea, only to discover it will cost as much as a BBQ for 50 people.......

[Pema]

10:39 PM on 09/26/2010

i guess gaga will have factory farming go to help her with a cause as an activist? wiskeytangofoxtrot.

[jaslyn]

04:21 PM on 09/26/2010

How bored and hard are we to entertain that we now have to have a dress made of meat to get our attention? If Gaga needs all this craziness to capture America's attention, she must not believe in her own talent. It's distraction, and we've become a nation that needs distraction to take our attention away from what's going on in the world. But you know what happens when you're not looking.

[Lady Doodlebug]

11:16 AM on 09/26/2010

Did she start to stink after a few hours? Ewwww.

[huffpostreader10000]

10:12 PM on 09/25/2010

Maybe the meat came from a cow that died of natural causes?

[mplsdiva]

05:47 PM on 09/25/2010

She should of went swimming with sharks wearing that dress. THEN she would have been daring!!!!!

[huffpostreader10000]

10:13 PM on 09/25/2010

Wrong grammar. Instead of "went" you need to use the past participle "gone".

[mplsdiva]

09:23 AM on 09/26/2010

Oh my.

[Deborah Paley]

01:49 AM on 09/25/2010

The diamond outfit for Bad Romance was more interesting to me. The meat was mostly the same texture and coloration (more or less). I guess it was meant to resemble fabric. The meat thing-I mean, I went to a great art school, and this was kind of art school-y in a freshman year kind of way. Kinda Project Butcher-y. Not exactly revolutionar-y. Maybe if they studded it with diamonds, or edged it with something, trimmed it with bows, gave it sleeves, dyed it a non-meat color, shaped it into something, so it wasn't just slabs of meat. I mean, they really didn't try very hard.

[fancy from delancey]

12:41 AM on 09/25/2010

Completely successful in every way. I was afraid it would be too reminiscent of Cuban artist Tania Bruguera's famous meat performances from the 1990s, but thought the dress was very stylish and well constructed (the boots, not so much). People who have moral issues with the use of meat have a valid point, of course, but I think they would be hard-pressed to say what they think the meat dress signifies. Is it a critique? Beauty? Pure spectacle? Maybe Gaga is vegan...

[Karl Boardman]

12:33 AM on 09/26/2010

Pretty much just for the attention, which is fine. She said it was because 'if we don't stand up for our rights, pretty soon we'll have as much rights as the meat on our bones' in defence of gay rights, though this point could have been made without wearing a dead cow, and though wearing it overshadowed the press that her walking the red carpet earlier in the evening with ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen discharged under DADT would have otherwise gotten. But in terms of enabling her to become more famous and those all-important album and ticket sales, which is why she wore it, a resounding success.

[Tree201]

03:25 PM on 09/27/2010

I'm really against this dress, I think it's disgusting for a variety of reasons. However, she's instigated real debate as a good artist would and in my opinion, should.

[Siren Song]

08:28 PM on 09/24/2010

Using the flesh of animals is never art. I'm especially surprised that her followers, many of whom support gay rights (as do I), would not also support the rights of a group that cannot speak for themselves.

[NathaninSeattle]

04:03 PM on 09/25/2010

Oh please. This is no different than wearing a leather jacket or leather shoes. I don't wear leather, it's always struck me as freakish. I fail to see the fundamental difference between leather for clothing and using another part of an animal for the same purpose. Had Gaga worn a leather dress, no one would be having this debate.

[Siren Song]

10:59 PM on 09/25/2010

You're probably right. I dislike seeing people wearing leather, but I suppose the raw meat is just an extreme of that. Point taken.

[jaslyn]

04:24 PM on 09/26/2010

uh, there's no difference between wearing raw meat and leather? Don't want to borrow anything from your closet.

[Cori527]

06:07 PM on 09/24/2010

I was okay with Gaga until this. A meat dress is absolutely foul and offensive in every way. I'm still giving her a pass because of her stance on gay rights. But she's walking a very very thin line with me.

If it were just me would she care? Probably not.

But I am not alone.

[jayded]

09:49 AM on 09/25/2010

since when is meat taboo? ever been to a grocery store? tons of it in there....fur on the other hand, not so much.

[Karl Boardman]

12:28 AM on 09/26/2010

She does wear snakeskin though - the McQueen shoes with her first VMA outfit. I find that just as repugnant as wearing fur.

Perfect icon by the way.

[jaslyn]

04:25 PM on 09/26/2010

yes, been to the grocery, and I stay away from all the slaughter and carnage that is the butcher department. Bad taste to wear it.

[BebeLush]

05:47 PM on 09/24/2010

Refusing to address the animal rights people because you might actually agree with what they have to say, no?

[no exit]

05:39 PM on 09/24/2010

That's not art. It's not even design. It's garbage.

[jaslyn]

04:25 PM on 09/26/2010

THank you.!

[Maria Estela Aguilera]

04:52 PM on 09/24/2010

I like her way...she's one of a kind but a dress made of real meat????? ...To those ppl that like to dress their pets...would you buy some human flesh sweater for your chihuahua??? I dont think so.

[cvkathy]

04:49 PM on 09/24/2010

Food is not entertainment.