TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY
Yesterday, a whacky turn of events landed me at that most dreaded of destinations- Macy's Herald Square. I say dreaded, because I fear overly large places, such as Macy's H.S and any Home Depot or Lowe's.
As usual it was chaos in and out, but I was dying to check out the MATERIAL GIRL line Madonna and Lourdes had whipped up for Macy's and Iconix.
Once there, I started to wrap my head around just how huge a gamble the ICONIX Group is taking on this line. It"s priced to sell to the teen crowd whose mamas were sneaking into clubs when the Mat Girl came out w/ 'Everybody' in 1982
There were my old eighties youth closet faves: lowcutsnakeskin flats, lots of cobalt blue, the rippedup 1 shoulder gray flashdance sweatshirt,the lace tees and gray jean jacket w/ stud detail, like the one I spent my week's food money for back in 1985. I'm not sure how the lame bags fit in and the lame seventies boob tube tops, but it's inspired by - not a literal walk thru her East Village closet back then, right?
I can't fault their pricing strategy either. An entire outfit comes in at $64: plaid shirt, bandeau, leggings, tutu skirt.
WHAT WAS MISSING WAS THE GRIT AND HUNGER THAT GAVE MADONNA THAT EDGE WE ALL LOVED AND COULD RELATE TO WHEN SHE BROKE OUT WITH 'EVERYBODY' and then 'LUCKY STAR'. A BLOGGER, 'SHANK EXPOSE' PUTS IT BEST, "
I love how Madonna was so so hungry here. She's giving it! She's like...I'm gonna be a star bitches! And that [what] she became!
To give Iconix and the Madonna-Lourdes team some credit, HOW CAN you bring-back a moment and the feelings that were part and parcel of the person Madonna was then? YOU CAN'T. Because this is so, what you end-up with is a shadow of the IN-YOUR-FACE persona that thousands of young girls [including moi] couldn't get enough of back then.
As far as the shopping experience, one suggestion is to play early Madonna tracks on a continuous loop in the shopping area and to have video screens scattered around playing the early raw concert videos such as 'Lucky Star', I've posted here.
[Hey, maybe this was all being done, but when I walked-in yesterday, there was a forgettable [not Madonna] soundtrack in the background.
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PART OF THE BRANDING EXERCISE IS HOW WELL TAYLOR MOMSEN AND PHOTO FASHION GENIUS, TOM MUNRO PULL -OFF MADGE'S EARLY-YEARS 'TUDE IN THE ADS. Tom's one of Madonna's long-time collaborators. Check out their joint exhibit on www.allaboutmadonna.com
I'm passing on the Material Girl for Macy's line. Instead, I'm doing my own hommage to this extraordinary woman. I'm off to an Ashtanga Yoga class and I'm wearing a few black rubber bracelets I dug up from back in the day.
*For a yoga class that's starting to get me towards my goal of Madonna-like arms, check-out one of the classes at www.buddhimatyoga.com
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