From Lady Gaga's "meat dress" to distinctive Met Ball looks, these were the most over-the-top gowns and ensembles of the 2010s.

While the red carpet offers a platform for stars and designers to collaborate on the most stunning haute couture gowns and power suits, it can also be a stage for over-the-top outfits that send a strong statement. 

Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Cardi B, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and more stars donned some of the most memorable red carpet ensembles of the decade, from Gaga's infamous "meat dress" to Madonna's bare-all Met Ball ensemble. You won't find any of those classic, old-Hollywood Oscars looks on this list. 

Here are The Hollywood Reporter's 12 wildest red carpet fashion moments of the 2010s.

• Lady Gaga

  Few dresses in modern history will be so remembered as Lady Gaga's infamous meat dress from the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, designed by Franc Fernandez. Now turned into jerky, the dress was put on display at Gaga's Engima residency in Las Vegas in May.

• Nicki Minaj

  Minaj went into the woods for the Grammy Awards, donning a Little Red Riding Hood Versace cape and bringing a fake Pope as an escort — perhaps to protect her from the Big Bad Wolf? 

• Sacha Baron Cohen

  Cohen dressed as his uniformed character from The Dictator at the Academy Awards, even bringing "Kim Jong-il's ashes" in a golden urn, which he dumped on Ryan Seacrest during a red carpet interview. The actor was flanked by two olive-clad cadets and claimed his own garb was by John Galliano "but the socks are from Kmart."
• Rihanna

  Rihanna donned her so-called naked dress while accepting the CFDA Fashion Icon Award in 2014. She said on the carpet at the time, "You will never be stylish if you don’t take risks." The sheer look was created by her costumer Adam Selman with Swarovski crystals — flash forward five years and she has her own Fenty fashion house. 

• Miley Cyrus

  Two years after that performance with Robin Thicke at the VMAs, Cyrus again shocked her Disney audience in a skimpy chandelier skirt and silver suspenders (sans shirt) by Versace. Pulling her blonde dreadlocks up into a ponytail, Cyrus chose the outfit that THR called "outrageous" at the time and went on to speak about empowering women to embrace their sexuality. 

• Madonna

  Madonna bared all at the 2016 Met Gala in a lacey Givenchy ensemble. That year, "Madonna's butt" dominated the social media conversation. 
• Katy Perry

  Always one to dress on-theme, Perry transformed into a gilded angel for the "Heavenly Bodies" Met Gala with six-foot-wide Versace angel wings (that inspired Internet memes about her knocking into other A-listers and her stylist Jamie Mizrahi).

• Rihanna

  Met Gala queen Rihanna converted fashionistas into believers by transforming into a metallic pope for the pious 2018 Met Gala. Her embellished minidress, robe and headpiece were all designed by John Galliano, creative director of Maison Margiela, and were worn with Louboutin heels and a 1934 Cartier pendant necklace. 

• Ezra Miller

  "I don’t identify as a man. I don’t identify as a woman. I barely identify as a human," Miller told THR. That statement seemed fitting for Miller's other-worldly puffer coat gown for the premiere of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in Paris. The black hooded piece was by Moncler in collaboration with Valentino's creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli (Miller added black lipstick, too).
• Joy Villa

  For the 2019 Grammys, singer Joy Villa continued to show her support for President Donald Trump by wearing a "Build the Wall" dress in reference to his immigration policies at the U.S.-Mexico border. The gown, with a brick motif and barbed wire shoulders, was designed by L.A.-based Desi Lee Allinger-Nelson of Desi Designs Couture. The political statement was completed with a "Make America Great Again" handbag. 

• Cardi B

  The rapper embodied the "birth of Venus" in a vintage 1995-era Thierry Mugler seashell dress with a sequined top and pearl accents at her waist, neck, navel and hair. She needed five people to help her out of the car, natch.

• Billy Porter

   

  Porter helped break fashion's gender binary by donning a Christian Siriano tuxedo gown to the 2019 Oscars. "I have always used clothes as a tool for self-expression and find immense pleasure in celebrating life, love and joy through fashion,” the Pose actor told THR.