Madonna, daughter Lourdes partner on junior fashion line
Madonna is hoping to go from fashion icon to fashion mogul with her latest endeavor. The pop star and her 13-year-old daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, are partnering on a junior fashion line called Material Girl, which will be sold exclusively at Macy’s for back-to-school season, and although the clothes won’t land in stores until Aug. 3, sketches were released Tuesday.
The line is named after Madonna’s 1984 hit song, and there are some similarities to the pop star’s 1980s iteration — the (very) short skirt, the corset top, the layered jewelry. But the muse is Lourdes, or Lola as she is known, Madonna’s daughter with trainer Carlos Leon.
Material Girl will include apparel, footwear, jewelry and handbags, and items will range from $12 to $40.
The first collection mixes hard and soft elements, “like a tutu dress and studded-combat boots, or an oversized boyfriend sweatshirt with a floral print mini skirt,” according to a news release.
From the sketches, the collection doesn’t look to be anything wildly new. There’s a little Betsey Johnson in the floral dress, a little Versace in the star print, and a little Madonna in the skinny jeans and bustier combo. If anything, the clothes appear overly sophisticated for the demographic.
Of course, if you’re Madonna or anything like her, it may be almost impossible to lecture your teenage daughter about age-appropriateness. “I think this line is absolutely an extension of her taste,” Madonna said in a statement about her daughter’s involvement. “We like to combine … a plaid or a flannel with a lace, or leather with lace or rhinestones. So we mix and match textures and fabrics and elements that are both masculine and feminine.”
Material Girl is being designed in collaboration with the in-house design team at Iconix Brand Group. The New York-based firm owns several other lines aimed at the gum-smacking set, including Bongo, Rampage and Candie’s, and has stakes in Ed Hardy and Danskin. Madonna and her manager, Guy Oseary, formed a new company, MG Icon, to focus on future fashion projects, including eyewear. MG (Madonna and Guy) owns 50% of Material Girl, and Iconix owns the other 50%.
This is not Madonna’s first go at fashion. In 2007, she teamed up with H&M for the M by Madonna line, with styles deemed too staid by some critics (a white trench coat and white sequined minidress were top sellers, but there wasn’t a cone bra in sight). And she has also had a long friendship with Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who cast her as a Sicilian housewife for their spring 2010 advertising campaign, doing dishes and eating spaghetti with her hands.
