When Madonna kicks off Celebration, her 12th world tour at the O2 this weekend, a retrospective of 40 years of her prima-Madonna-ish pop artistry, it’s not only going to be the hits and the inappropriately sexual dance moves everyone’s waiting for, it’s the looks.
In some ways the now 64-year-old’s music is merely a catchy backdrop to her wardrobe, which has by turn entranceed and annoyed people since she first bopped into Eighties’ post-punk New York in her cut-off t-shirts, mini-skirts and leggings, Today, you can’t really call yourself a pop goddess if you haven’t ground your pelvis into the eye of a camera wearing nothing but a see-through thong, but back then a woman singing about being like a virgin while wearing a lot of black eye liner and a lacy bra, was thrillingly outrageous.
Early Madonna was pure ‘boy toy’ fun, a sexy DIY style that was truly addictive for her young audience and reached its peak with Get In the Groove in 1985. The phase launched the style tropes forever associated with the Queen of Pop: black lace, underwear-as-outerwear; religious paraphernalia; fingerless gloves; leather.
She pared that back in her first major transformation for Papa Don’t Preach in 1986, cutting her hair short and going sleek peroxide blonde, a dip into the androgony she’d explore more later. But first she had to live out some Hollywood fantasies, paying homage to Marilyn Monroe (and beating Kim Kardashian to it by four decades) in Material Girl. Even in 1991 at the Oscar’s after-show party she was still pushing Marilyn – on the arm of Michael Jackson no less – all peroxide curls, ice white fur and $20 million dollars of Harry Winston diamonds.
The teenagers of 1989 will remember the fervor around the launch of the Like A Prayer promo. Video recorders were set the world over. Perving over a black Jesus figure while dressed in a sexy lacy slip dress previously owned by Hollywood star, Natalie Wood, Madonna continued to encourage us to fire up that wonton style.
But it was the Blond Ambition tour in 1990 where things became legendary, with its wardrobe designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, then the naughtiest man in fashion. Everyone remembers the pointy boobs, but maybe not Madonna first appearing in the guise of a man, wearing a chalk-striped business suit that she gradually stripped off to reveal that shell-pink corset. The feminist symbolism was real and Madonna, the artiste with a ripped bod, had arrived.
By 1992 she’d amped up the sex with her Erotica album and the persona of Dita Parlo, a dirty, murky dominatrix, all leather and whips, throwing in more controversy with her Sexbook, a coffee-table tome of pornographic poses where there wasn’t much fashion at all. It was too much for America and in an unlikely Madonna move, she started to tone it down.
While she’s riffed endlessly on female icons and archetypes – Hollywood stars; Eastern goddesses; Spanish widows; Marie-Antoinette; – it’s not all been cos-play. She’s always reflected current fashion trends, if not, started them. Arguably, she was the person who made Tom Ford for Gucci happen when at the 1995 VMAs, she wore the designer’s blue satin shirt, unbuttoned, over a see-through bra and low-rise trousers. British fans immediately rushed to Warehouse to try and recreate the look.
The following year Madonna became a mother to Lourdes and began cultivating her Spiritual Guru phase, which reached its zenith with the Ray of Light album, a late Nineties fashion dream conducted in Chloe trousers, Plein Sud denim, yoga-toned tummy and kabbalah bracelets. Some of us are still living in that era.
Others might be fonder of Madge’s Brit phase, when she married Guy Ritchie of all people and moved to England, losing some of her cool while she was at it. That brief period when she was Princess Anne was startling. She launched her children’s book, The English Roses in 2003 with a US Vogue cover story, shot on her Wiltshire estate, looking every inch the lady of the manor. How very dare she, people said. But, hey, why not be a Dowager for a bit?
That was probably the last time Madonna attempted to be respectable. Yeah, she could have aged gracefully and become a grand dame, the expensive blonde, JK Rowling-alike of the pop world. But no, as she moved into her 50s and 60s she returned to her early attitude of trying very hard to provoke. You can’t really do that through sexy clothes these days, (although that doesn’t stop her trying), but she’s certainly done it with her face and body, fighting the natural signs of ageing by amping up the cosmetic procedures, creating a kind of Snap Chat filtered version of Madonna.
And that’s the incarnation of the 64 year old mega-starwho’s about to hit London. Scary, shocking, absolutely disgraceful? Oh, let’s hope so.
