While Madonna has certainly given us all a good look-see of lace, leather, and, yes, latex costumes in her stage costumes of the past, it was anybody’s guess what we’d get when the Material Lady returned to concert stages. And she did just that, starting her “Celebration Tour” in London over the past weekend.
As we all know, Miss Madge suffered a severe bacterial infection over the summer, pushing the start of this tour of her greatest hits back a bit. Still, by all accounts, her three-act show touched all the bases, as much for fans of her deep song catalog as those who wanted to see Madonna in stunning stage wear.
As explored deeper in this Vogue interview, the tour’s costume/creative designers Eyob Yohannes and Rita Melssen explained that with an artist like Madonna, “Fashion has always been a part of her storytelling,” and they wanted to draw from her past certainly for a show that explores her decades in the business. And they did just that by calling on some of Madonna’s favorite designers, like Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Dilara Findikoglu, to produce bespoke wardrobe pieces for this show.
As you see from the screen capture picture above, the main lady began the show in a floor-length black Gaultier kimono, with stunning sleeve cut-outs and the designer’s own jeweled halo shaped crown. The audience was treated to more Jean Paul Gaultier with an update on his infamous pointy cone cup bra in his creation of a black cone mini dress encrusted with black crystals that Madonna wore in this show as well.
Madonna also strutted on stage in a Findikoglu tailcoat, a piece of outerwear she found in a vintage store.
For act two, her “Erotica” and “Vogue,” era, Madonna’s dancers were dressed in boxing couture, while the main lady began the set in a boxing robe, that she threw off in no time, to reveal the slip dress she was wearing under it.
Act three, where Madonna gets into her 2010 output, saw her in western wear, ending with her manning stage in a leather corset, shirt, cowboy hat, and knee-high Miu Miu cowboy boots.
Act four brought what might be her most arresting costume change with Madonna first appearing in a huge taffeta cape, that she shed to reveal a shiny mylar Versace one-piece. The catsuit was rendered in a broken glass-like pattern, reflecting the lights around the 02 arena spectacularly.
As her designers mentioned, all the clothes Madonna wears in this show are rigged for quick changes and sport center-back zippers. In many instances, Madonna ‘under-dresses,’ wearing more than one costume at a time for her quick changes.
Once again, it seems, Madonna does deliver.
