Lady Gaga, puttin' on the meat. (AP) | More VMA Photos

Lady Gaga wouldn't be Lady Gaga if she didn't show up at the MTV Video Music Awards in at least one over-the-top ensemble. So naturally, she donned three Sunday night. But the frock generating the most controversy is her meat dress, the one she donned late in the evening and that, apparently, was created by noted designer  Sam the Butcher.

The shredded, bloody-looking dress, topped off with a hat that looked like a slab of raw flank steak, was a, um, more fleshed-out version of the meat bikini she recently sported on the cover of Vogue Hommes Japan, much to the annoyance of PETA. But Gaga is hardly the first person to use meat as a basis for fashion inspiration.

My colleague Melissa Bell --author of the new blog entitled Blog Post -- pointed out that this whole carcass-as-clothing thing has definitely been done before. Chinese artist Zhang Huan sported a meaty muscle suit back in 2006. And some of the contestants on "America's Top Model" donned dead animal in 2008.

So perhaps this wasn't an example of Miss "Bad Romance" at her most original. As to why she wore the dress, she told Ellen DeGeneres in an interview that was taped last night and will air on DeGeneres's show Monday that, "it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth. However, it has many interpretations, but for me this evening ... If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones."

Gesturing toward that Vogue Hommes Japan magazine cover, she also noted: "And I am not a piece of meat." Well, all right then.

As for Gaga's other fashion choices -- the black Armani gown that was so ultra-heavy the pop singer could not move in it without aid from two assistants, and the Alexander McQueen get-up -- I ultimately liked the McQueen gown more. Despite  my assertion on Twitter last night that the feathers in the middle of her head may have been an homage to the Washington Redskins -- which clearly worked some magic, so thanks, Gaga! -- the dress itself was the most elegant and fashion-forward of the three. But what do you think?

SOURCE: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2010/09/lady_gagas_meat_dress_and_more.html