WASHINGTON – Lady Gaga’s famous meat dress has made its way to the nation’s capital, along with Loretta Lynn’s song about “The Pill” and other relics from music history.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is launching a national tour with an exhibit about pioneering women in rock ‘n’ roll, tracing the evolution of women artists and their impact on music. It opens Friday at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Curator Meredith Rutledge-Borger told The Associated Press that the exhibit, “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” is inherently political, in part, as it highlights many “first ladies of rock” who have spoken loud and clear on women’s rights, gay rights and other issues through their music.

“This really is the center of our political life,” Rutledge-Borger said. “Bringing this exhibit here kind of redefines what’s important in our history and political life … at a time when there’s talk of women being under attack in politics.”

More than 250 artifacts represent 70 women who were “engines of change and creativity,” she said, each helping to redefine who could make rock ‘n’ roll. It features items from Cher, the B-52s, Donna Summer, Stevie Nicks, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna’s provocative outfit from her “Blonde Ambition” tour. Other items date back to jazz singer Billie Holiday, first blues recording artists Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, and country music trailblazer Mother Maybelle Carter.

Gaga’s dress from the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards — now dried, preserved and painted to restore its original raw meat color — is being shown in its political context.

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Lynn’s country song “The Pill” was considered so controversial in 1975 that her record label delayed its release for three years. Lynn later recounted that doctors told her the tune was pivotal in rural acceptance of birth control.

“We really wanted to make sure this wasn’t just a fashion show,” Rutledge-Borger said. “We wanted to showcase these artists as musicians.”

For the National Museum of Women in the Arts, it’s the first exhibit to feature women performing artists, said chief curator Kathryn Wat.

Katie Holmes teams up with Brown Cosmetics

NEW YORK – Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is enlisting actress Katie Holmes as its first celebrity spokeswoman.

Holmes, 33, will appear in spring 2013 print ads and displays. Bobbi Brown will also be the lead makeup artist at the Spring/Summer 2013 fashion show for Holmes’ clothing line, Holmes & Yang.

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Holmes, whose divorce from actor Tom Cruise became final Aug. 21, is also appearing on Broadway this fall in Theresa Rebeck’s five-character “Dead Accounts” and also recently shot an adaptation of Chekhov’s “The Seagull.”

Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, created in 1991, offers makeup, skin-care products, perfume and accessories in 60 countries and is owned by Estee Lauder Cos.

No probe now into paper that ran nude Harry

LONDON – Britain’s press watchdog says that for now, it won’t open an investigation into a tabloid’s publication of nude photos of Prince Harry, because royal officials have not filed a formal complaint.

The Sun was Britain’s only national newspaper to carry the pictures of Harry frolicking in the nude with an unidentified woman in his Las Vegas hotel room after the images appeared online and drew international attention.

The Press Complaints Commission said it received around 3,800 complaints after The Sun published the pictures, but royal officials were not among those filing.

The commission said Thursday that it is talking with Harry’s representatives, but since they have not yet formally complained, it would be “inappropriate” to open an investigation because any probe without consent would “pose an intrusion.”

– From news service reports


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