She sings, she dances, she writes, she poses nude, she appears in (pretty awful) films, and yet she remains the most famous woman in the known universe. That’s Madonna. And now, god love her, she designs. ‘M by Madonna’ premiered in, of all places, the Central H&M store in Hong Kong. Did she really pick up a sketchpad and ink a collection of outfits? P.Ramakrishnan investigates.For some inexpensive items to festoon the wardrobes of the most notable ladies in town, there is no logical explanation for the frenzy that followed the opening night of H&M in Central, Hong Kong on March 8th. Apparently, 1,000 invitations were sent out, but quadruple numbers turned up at the door. Security was kept on its toes all night, and the lines extended from the old Lane Crawford building to some nether regions of Sheung Wan. Invited guests, by hour number two, took bathroom breaks at the nearby McDonald's, and there were takeaway fish balls for those who needed sustenance as hour three crept up. All this fuss for HK$499 black ankle-length dresses and matching booties?
Oh, there’s the ‘M’ factor of course.
Just over a month ago, Madonna took over Central. A no man’s land bracketed by one portrait after another of the American Anglophile, pop icon, non-actress, African baby adopter, Kabbala espousing, henna-tattooed earth mother. The major MTR stations around town were plastered with her posters, the biggest billboards across Central had her honed glare staring out, the three storey LCD screen that illuminated the crossing on Queens Road ran her ads in perpetual loop and pictures filled up pages in every single daily paper around Hong Kong, all heralding the opening of Swedish giant H&M’s grand opening in Asia.
In her first stab at ‘designing’, the style icon’s clothes had not yet been seen by the West, and the world premier of her work was in Hong Kong, not in the UK, the US, or Japan (the music markets she’s dominated over the last two decades). The litmus test for her latest incarnation in China no less. So the breathless anticipation got the better of all concerned and a swarm descended on opening night – as they braved serpentine queues, tantrums and the glare of the paparazzi.
The ‘M’ collection is alarmingly wearer friendly. Cream trench coats, white sweaters with gold piping, monochrome A-line skirts, brown pencil pants. None of the theatrical creations that the mind conjures when one thinks of Madonna (lest we forget her conical bra infamy and other wardrobe malfunctions) which, according to Margareta van den Bosch, the principal designer for H&M, isn’t a surprise. “I think she has a very different style hen she is in the working scene, and when she’s in private., she’s different. She wants to have the glamourous look only when she’s working, she’s very normal at home.”
A seeming contradiction of terms, not many would buy the term ‘normal’ with the big M, but they did scoop up her silk dresses for under HK$900. Previously H&M worked with Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney and other, you know, ‘real’ designers to create looks for them - so why hook up with the Material Girl? As she worked with the pop icon over the last year, the H&M rep reveals how the collection came about. “We had this idea, a new kind of collaboration with celebrities, and it was great that Madonna wanted to share her personal taste with the world,” says van den Bosch. “She likes classic clothes, and when she showed her personal wardrobe to us, it was very feminine and quiet classic in terms of style. She likes suits, trench coats, dresses and skirts. There’s the icon and then the person behind that icon.”
What was the real surprise in working with Madonna? “How involved she was,” says the collaborator without hesitation. “She was so engaged, she was really into it and liked what she was doing. And that was a little bit of a surprise as I first thought she would just say ‘yes, no, yes, no’ to what we presented but she was looking at the seams, the material, she even knew how something needed to be changed. And of course she was firm in telling us what she didn’t like.”
But of course.
“She did say I’m not a denim girl, I don’t like it that much. So we put very slim, very basic denim in the collection,” says van den Roshch. “She also didn’t want puffy things because of the volume – and that was a no from the beginning. She always has very high heels so there are only high-heeled shoes in the collection. She said she would like to wear very short skirts but she’s tiny so she doesn’t. She said she knew they wouldn’t look good on her so she never wears them. Everyone who meets Madonna in person will find this as a surprise - she’s so tiny but she seems so big in movies, in music.”
Larger than life, as the undisputed Queen of Pop, that rings very true. And then I hear;
“She doesn’t want to show off too much either because she’s aware of what looks good on her.”
Not show off? The author of ‘Sex’, (as one review stated, “the dirtiest coffee table book in America”) veiled up? Did motherhood bring a conservative wrap to the star of ‘Body of Evidence’?
“I don’t think she’s turned more conservative because she has a very unique style when she’s on stage,” counters her friend and, until the H&M contract ends, colleague. “She wants to be well-dressed and glamourous during her performances. She’s so fit, she’s in her 40s and my god, what a body!”
Ah, that sounds all too familiar. I know this might seem like a foolish question but it begs to be asked; why Madonna? Unlike, say a film icon like the late Audrey Hepburn, to inspire a collection Mrs Ritchie hasn’t exactly been universally been applauded for her sartorial choices. “Well, she’s very style conscious. Madonna has always been her own stylist, unlike other celebrities. She stands out from others in her own way, and since she started in the ‘80s, she has been very much aware of how she looks and what image she projects. Even when she worked with famous designers, she was always interested in how she would come across. If she didn’t like something by Galliano, Versace or Gaultier, she would tell them. She’s a very strong woman.”
The power yoga and Pilates aside, the True Blue superstar has never been accused of being a wallflower in any of her avatars, over her much morphed, reinvented persona. But the thought of her hemming a skirt or pulling a thread through the eye of the needle doesn’t sit well – nor does the image of her at the drawing board bubble up.
“Well of course she doesn’t sketch, she hasn’t studied fashion like a student!” says van den Bosch with a barely suppressed smile. “All celebrities have someone behind them that makes the collections because they are not designers. I don’t think any of the stars can sketch, not just Madonna!”
Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, the Duchess of York… The celebrity bandwagon laying claim on the term ‘designer’ is much ballyhooed and quite often booed. With a laugh (in agreement perhaps) van den Bosch continues, “Celebrities transmit the style, someone does the sketch and puts it all into paper, and someone else makes it. When we went to see Madonna at her home, I had a trained artist with me who did sketches of her ideas. Then she would say things like, ‘I like that, no, not that, I would never wear that. Make this sleeve like this, tighter…”
Were there any disagreements?
“Well…” she says with a pause and slight trepidation before full disclosure. “OK, well, she wanted the entire collection to be in black! Then we said maybe a little white and coffee colour, but she didn’t really want any other colours at all at first! Then she agreed to basics but she did draw the line at things like flowers and too many patterns.”
With a humble shrug, she says, “I think if I had designed it, well, I would have put in more volume and included other colours but that’s her choice. And it’s very her. This is Madonna’s collection in every sense.”
There is much more to H&M’s story than Madonna of course, with over 100 designers from around Europe and Asia contributing to ever-changing collection of ready-to-wear clothes. The company’s philosophy of bring affordable and quality clothes to the masses resulted in an annual turnover of over US$9.8 billion last year alone. Since the first retail store opened in Sweden in 1947, there are now over 1,300 others in 24 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North America. There are over 50,000 employees, approximately 700 independent suppliers in Asia and Europe, and 21 production offices dotted across the map. All those numbers, facts and figures have been temporarily eclipsed by one superstar and her ceaseless, sphinx-like ability to cast out the old and rejuvenate herself each year.
As we hit the exit of H&M with goody bags in tow (a white scarf covered in black ‘M’ monograms) under the shadow of her gigantic billboard where she’s sprawled out a la Cleopatra.
I wonder if you can overdose on Madonna?!
“Well, what can I say?” rhetorically asks the lesser known M, Margareta van den Bosch,. “Madonna is… Madonna!”
Say no more. Say no more.
Images courtesy of H&M, Moxie PR company in Hong Kong. Portrait of Margareta by Hyvis Tong
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