Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress Almost Spoiled, Says Taxidermist

Lady Gaga's 35 lb. meat dress is part of a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame display, dubbed "Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power," which runs through February, but it almost didn't make it there since, well, raw meat tends to spoil and isn't really meant to be used as a fabric in modern society.

But the HOF recruited California-based taxidermist Sergio Vigilato, who was a rock star in South America at one point in his life, to preserve the dress. Vigilato, 66, told the Los Angeles Times that the frock, made of Argentinian beef, started to spoil before it was frozen, so when he began the process of dethawing, it smelled absolutely awful in his workshop. Thankfully, though, there were no maggots on the dress and its keepers had the foresight to freeze it.

Despite the slight state of decomposition, rather than give up on the delicate, um, material, Vigilato soldiered on, as he had been paid in advance. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame had already paid me upfront -- $6,000 -- so I went ahead with it," Vigilato said. It took him about a month to clean, cure and preserve the "garment." While he would not reveal the method in which he used to preserve the dress, the museum has said that it was treated with a cocktail of bleach, formaldehyde and detergent to remove bacteria.

Vigilato then had to embark on the pain "steaking" process reconstructing the dress so that it looked like it's original form and working with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on how they planned to present the dress in order to keep it from further spoiling.

We wouldn't blame Gaga if she had just allowed the dress to be used for beef jerky.

Watch Lady Gaga Talk About Meat Dress on 'The Ellen DeGeneres' Show