Fashion Is Still Madonna's Passion

LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Madonna's MDNA Tour which opened in Tel Aviv on May 31st includes over 700 costumes elements, six costume changes for the Material Girl and costume changes for the dancers with each song.  The show is already being heralded as her most stunning and grandest extravaganza ever.

Longtime Madonna stylist, Arianne Phillips, and her staff of 25 have put together an array of big name designers and emerging talent including Jean Paul Gaultier Couture, Brooks Brothers shirts and canes, Prada/MiuMiu shoes, club and street style innovators Jeremy Scott & Adidas, Dolce & Gabanna and several new creative partnerships, as well as her own Truth or Dare line encompassing lingerie and shoes that are scheduled to come out in the Fall. The Material Girl's MDNA tour essentially runs the gamut from long time collaborators and new partners, fashion designers, retailers and artists along with dazzling elements of Swarovski crystals.  "I see Madonna as one of the greatest performing artists and entertainers of our generation," commented Phillips, a two time Oscar nominee, who has collaborated with Madonna for over 15 years and four tours.

The wardrobe reflects new twists on familiar themes including spirituality, prophecy, light, super-vixen, Americana/sassy, majorette with a message, masculine, feminine, redemption and celebration.  With styles including Truth or Dare lingerie with crosses,  colorful metal mesh tee shirts, specially designed accessories including gargoyle and bunny masks, Brooks Brothers shirts and canes,  swords, gun holsters,  jeweled accessories, mirrored track suits, Lord of War tee shirts, Phillips designed Joan of Arc ensembles, a majorette costume with a 1940's inspired silhouette and Shaolin warrior costumes, fashionistas will easily find a wide range of styles and likely some new trends.  Madonna's infamous attention to every last detail has called for each costume to be painstakingly assembled by Phillips and her team to match Madonna's vision of making each song an entity on to itself.        

Madonna and pal Jean Paul Gaultier have taken their longtime gender-bending provocation of male and females roles to new heights and together have created a specially designed cage corset.  "They still have plenty to say," said Phillips. 

"In the spirit of having the opportunity to create characters and further inform the narrative of the show, I purposely choose to collaborate with not just fashion designers, but also with artists like Desi Santiago, Michael Schmidt and Erik Halley," added Phillips. Madonna and Phillips also looked toward emerging fashion designers including Fausto Puglisi, Gio Diev, Paul Seville and Chromat.

Madonna's own fashion line, Truth or Dare including intimate apparel and shoes is well represented on the tour. "It was super exciting to create pieces we have always wanted and needed, and that reflect the fashion "DNA" of who Madonna is.  And it's so great to create designs that people can buy and have a little bit of Madonna in their own life," remarked Phillips.

To download photos from Madonna's MDNA Tour and sketches of some of the designs, please go to: 

WEBSITE:        http://www.tourdesigncreative.net
USER NAME:    Madonna
PASSWORD:    MDNATOUR
(all case sensitive)

Following the opening night, Rolling Stone commented, "The looks are as bold as any she's worn, and clearly pay homage to a pantheon of powerful female archetypes including, of course, a nod to her own past glory. Among the most striking look is a modern interpretation of what the immortal warrior saint Joan of Arc might wear on a future crusade. We don't come to Madonna for rock & roll, nor any of its wardrobe trappings. We come to her for an unparalleled super pop spectacle, and that's what MDNA, as an album and tour, set out to prove:  no one does provocative pop better, and no one, even now, looks cooler doing it."

Madonna's MDNA World Tour is in support of her MDNA album which debuted at No. 1 in 40 countries.   

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SOURCE Live Nation