Who's That Girl Stepping Out Of Madonna's Shadow? Queen Lola, that's who.

[funkydita]

Sunday Express Article

LOURDES: WHO'S THAT GIRL STEPPING OUT OF MADONNA'S SHADOW?

Madonna and daughter Lourdes, who is preparing to launch her own fashion collection/Wenn.com

Sunday July 25,2010

AS MADONNA'S daughter Lourdes prepares to launch her own fashion collection, Lesley-Ann Jones wonders whether its success will affect their relationship.

IF YOUR mother had sold 250 million records, had more number ones than any other female artist and surpassed even Elvis in terms of top 10 hits would you settle for reflected glory and spend the millions? Not Madonna's daughter. Lourdes Leon, at just 13, already has plans.

"Lola" launches her own fashion collection, Material Girl, at New York department store Macy's on August 3 and anticipation is running high.

"Lourdes is clothes savvy," raves a design executive at Dolce & Gabbana in Milan (Domenico and Stefano are friends of Madonna). "She has clear design sense. She does her own sketches. She has real flare."

Lourdes is also wowing the style scene with her blog about the upcoming collection and, having had a quintessentially English upbringing thanks to her stepfather Guy Ritchie, Madonna's second ex-husband, she has public school confidence edged with New York cool and Miami Beach flashiness.

Thirteen going on 18, she is everywhere: a Versace pool party, hobnobbing with Prince William and Kate Middleton on a Wiltshire weekend, dazzling London's Shoreditch scene. This kid goes places.

"People think Madonna styled her in her own image but Lourdes herself is doing it," says a leading Manhattan photographer.

"Some people just have 'it'. Look at your own princesses, Eugenie and Beatrice: all the money in the world, all that privilege and style advice, they look like two refrigerators in frocks."

"I can remember her at five years old, coming in to a company drinks party," recalls a former WEA label executive who shared a close friendship with Madonna. "She had thrown on these stripy tights, a denim jacket and a skirt that didn't match and she looked amazing. She had it even then."

A make-up artist who has worked with Madonna can pinpoint the exact moment Lourdes became her own girl. "The day Madonna took her to get the mono brow plucked," she says. "Suddenly these perfect brows opened up this beautiful face."As for the fashion sense, why would she not have it? As Madonna says: "I've used fashion to make statements through my work all my life and now I have a daughter who's obsessed with fashion, it's no big surprise.

"As for this collection, my daughter has enormous input. That's the deal we made: we do this line together but she makes the majority of the decisions. I trust her, she has great style. We rarely disagree, she wears everything I own. She's basically the same size as me, almost as tall as me, we wear the same size shoe. It's disturbing!"

There's the rub. Beyond the sweetness and light, something sinister looms. Is Madonna jealous of her daughter's youth and looks? Does the Pope have a balcony?

There's not a workout, diet or surgical procedure in existence which turns back time. Beyond the sweetness and light, something sinister looms.

"Does it affect the mother-daughter relationship? Immensely," says Dr Charles Sophy, a Los Angeles psychiatrist and author of self-help guide Side By Side.

"Madonna will feel a perceived transfer of sexuality (PTS), which many mothers have in regard to their daughters. It occurs as a daughter reaches the threshold of womanhood.

"Discord grows when the role model she once served as for her daughter is usurped by her daughter becoming what she will never be again. If the mother has been adored for her beauty and success the perception that her daughter has taken that from her creates a sense of loss."

This, he warns, is a situation which can lead to anger, resentment and ultimately to breakdown in the relationship, particularly if mother and daughter date men the same age.

It could happen: in seven years Lourdes will be 20 and could easily be bringing home men of 29. Madonna will be almost 58 and could be doing the same. Her latest companion Jesus Luz, 23, is exactly 29 years younger.

"PTS may be evident in a mother crossing boundaries with her daughter's friends, or even mother making advances towards her daughter's boyfriend," says Dr Sophy. "Mothers must recognise signs of this truth."

The $60million question though, is: can Lourdes sing? If she can, who could blame her for thinking twice about being a pop star?

Children of famous artists rarely make it and are ridiculed for trying. Despite control-freak Madonna hiring the best producers and songwriters, it would still be a risk. That Lourdes has the drive is not in doubt but would she dare? Word is she plans to go the drama route, having just won a place at New York's High School of Performing Arts.

"She also dances and plays piano, she could go in any direction," says a family friend. "Lola knows the world is waiting for her to eclipse her mother. That's pressure. She won't want to be the one throwing the spotlight on Madonna growing older and becoming a has-been but by the time Lola is 16 she will be making her own decisions and not doing as she is told.

"Acting is the one thing Madonna has never cracked. It has long been her dearest ambition to make it as a respected actress. She came close with Evita in 1996 but not since."

If Lourdes succeeds where Madonna failed, God help her.

[Ciccone's Cheeks]

maybe if Lola is on a soap opera, broadway play, tv show or whatever, if she gets sick, M could substitute for her by playing a 20 year old- when M will really be like 60 - then destroy any future plans of Lola being a big actress, thus no worries about "eclipsing" her LOL. Just like what happened in Mommie Dearest lmao.

[loomer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEyfk97Gs7o

[acko]

Lola will b David Banda's secret dresser & possibly art director on his 1st WORLD TOUR

[Narendra Sen]

Lola will b David Banda's secret dresser & possibly art director on his 1st WORLD TOUR

Are u sayin that Lola will actually b the next Christopher Ciccone?

[acko]

Are u sayin that Lola will actually b the next Christopher Ciccone?

I'm saying David Banda will rule the world.

[Guest gloriesbarcelona]

Mmm... Am I the only one thinking that a 13 years old girl should't really be messing aroud with some bit of clothing and that noone would really care if she wasn't M's daughter?

I mean, a prepubescent child fashion designer?

It just all feels really awkward to me

[Guest]

I was drawing fashion sketches when I was a child. I was writing poetry about death when I was seven. Some people are just like that and my parents didn't even expose me to an enormous amount of that kind of creativity. Lourdes isn't being overexposed or treated wrongly. I think it's great the nurture a childs creative side. I met a young girl recently (the daughter of one of my clients...about six years old) and she was wearing a bright green dressed. Her father asked me if I could pin the strap together because it had broken, so I pinned it with a safety pin. He then explained to me that she had designed and made the dress herself. I thought it was great, so I immediately encouraged her to do it and to work at it when she's older. I always felt like my father never encouraged my creative side. It hurt my creativity and made me rebel like crazy!

[Nightshade]

something sinister looms...

Oh please. This article's writer acts like Madonna is going to become Mommie Dearest - a bitter, aging star so insecure she sabotages her daughter's chances at success. What an insult to someone who seems to be raising some very intelligent children.

[Guest]

I LOVE JOAN CRAWFORD! Besides, Lourdes wouldn't make a good Christina. What about Mercy? Makes more sense...

[Phantom Pain]

I thought this thread was about Lady Gaga

[LoveMadge]

I thought this thread was about Lady Gaga

Me too

[Guest gloriesbarcelona]

I was drawing fashion sketches when I was a child. I was writing poetry about death when I was seven. Some people are just like that and my parents didn't even expose me to an enormous amount of that kind of creativity. Lourdes isn't being overexposed or treated wrongly. I think it's great the nurture a childs creative side. I met a young girl recently (the daughter of one of my clients...about six years old) and she was wearing a bright green dressed. Her father asked me if I could pin the strap together because it had broken, so I pinned it with a safety pin. He then explained to me that she had designed and made the dress herself. I thought it was great, so I immediately encouraged her to do it and to work at it when she's older. I always felt like my father never encouraged my creative side. It hurt my creativity and made me rebel like crazy!

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely fabulous that if Lourdes feels creative, she has the support of her parents.

Nevertheless she is 13 and I always find disturbing when a child's life takes that kind of commercial level. I wish all the best though

[Camacho]

nypost

Madonna & child

Pop and style icon taps 13-year-old daughter Lourdes to tell her what’s in ‘Vogue’ for new fashion line

By CARRIE SEIM

Posted: 3:33 AM, July 25, 2010

In April, Lourdes joined Madonna at a benefit sponsored by Alice + Olivia, where she wore a rockin’ leather jacket that no doubt inspired the “Moto CropPleather” one (right, $68) for the Material Girl line.

Mama does preach. In a fashion-meets-rock-god moment, Madonna will launch her Material Girl teen clothing line with Macy’s on Aug. 3, but instead of crowning herself the next Queen of Fashion, Madonna is offering her 13-year-old daughter, Lourdes “Lola” Leon, for sartorial christening.

“She’s 100 percent the creative force of Material Girl,” Lourdes’ father, Carlos Leon, tells The Post. “She knew exactly what she wanted. She’s a trendsetter that draws from all different things to put together a look. She’s into different cultures and brings that into her style.”

Cultures, of course, to which she’s exposed thanks to her “rock star” mom and her “city boy” Cuban father, says Leon.

“She gets to travel around the world and experience different cultures,” he says. “I think she takes a little bit from each culture, myself and, of course, her mom, and makes it her own. She’s very creative in that way — putting colors together and stuff I would never even think about. She has that natural ability.”

Proud Papa isn’t the only one who’s taken notice. Known for her bushy brows, sideswept bangs, torn tights and inventive-but-unpracticed look, Lourdes is a burgeoning style icon whom even her fellow contemporaries appreciate.

“Our readers are obsessed with Lourdes’ style,” says Teen Vogue fashion news director Jane Keltner de Valle. “She’s gorgeous, she’s cool, she’s got her finger on her pulse, she has the same kind of rebellious spirit as her mother, but she has her own voice as well.”

And she may just be stealing her mother’s spotlight. While Madonna, 51, is its maternal namesake, forever dressing America’s youth up in her love, and Taylor Momsen, the rebellious “Gossip Girl” star, is the delinquent-debutante spokesteen, it’s Lola who’s been anointed creative director and muse.

“She has a stronger point of view than Madonna does, if you can believe it,” says Rob Smith, Macy’s executive vice president for marketing, who recalls Lola shopping for months with designers and pulling clothes from her own closet to illustrate the fashion aesthetic she envisioned for the MG line, which includes a range of metallic tube tops, sequined leggings and enough cross-adorned and studded accessories to remake the “Like a Virgin” video.

The immaculate conception of their line officially began last July, when Guy Oseary, Madonna’s manager and business partner, approached Iconix Brand Group, home to teen perennials Bongo, Op, Mudd, Rampage, Joe Boxer and Candie’s. After six months of brainstorming, Iconix CEP Neil Cole says, “We knew we had a winner with Material Girl when we brought Lola into the process.” Then, early this year, the consortium invited Macy’s to join their fashion marriage.

Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet thinks Madonna is wily to focus on juniors rather than a line for women her own age, something Bendet says invariably turns out “a little cheesy, a little tacky.”

“I’m usually kind of like, ‘Oh, God, there’s another celebrity trying to do another clothing line,” says Bendet. “But what Madonna’s doing for a younger market is actually really brilliant and new.”

Smith says working with Madonna, who often arrived in jeans with a “mom” demeanor, was easy and comfortable.

“But I have to be honest, in the beginning, I was a little nervous,” he confesses. “I remember walking in and seeing Madonna and thinking, be cool man, you’ve waited like 25 years for this to happen!”

One of his favorite moments of the collaboration was watching her and Mini-Madge interact as mother and daughter. “It’s kind of like, ‘That skirt’s a little too short,’” he recalls. “Or, we’re going through some of the things Lola brought in from her closet and Madonna goes, ‘Wait a second, that’s mine!’”

Lola is, in many ways, like any other teenage girl. She browses Topshop, loves to dance and plays piano. But unlike everyday teens, she’s on a first-name basis with designer Stella McCartney, wore a fringed Dolce & Gabbana skirt (paired with Doc Martens) to a film premiere last December, swipes Christian Dior shoes from her mom and is rumored to be enrolling at the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (a k a the “Fame” high school) this fall.

Madonna’s publicist Liz Rosenberg won’t comment on Lourdes’ schooling and insists she’ll stay mum in press interviews for the time being.

But Lola’s voice comes out loud and clear in every one of her blog posts and tweets for MaterialGirlCollection.com. In her first entry, we learn about her favorite colors (“My favvvv color is black (just because it goes with everything) and my least favorite color is brown (because it resembles the color of something QUITE gross)”), and her hateration of a certain shoe style (“OK, but no joke, gladiator sandals are OUT. They came out in summer 2008 and I was like, ‘OK those are really cute. Then 2009 comes around and people are still wearing them, so I’m like, ‘OK whatever it’s just a phase.’ BUT NOOOOO. Because people are STILL wearing them...It’s been three years people COME ON!!!!!!!!! I’m just like what????.”)

In a later post, she divulges her love for vintage (“I’m going to East London in the next days, to this area called Bricklane, to get some more vintage, cuz you can never have too much vintagy-thrifty looking stuff...HOLLA”) and shares a shopping “score” (“So I FINA-FREAKING-LY found the sandals that are NOT gladiators. They are black leather and they lace up from the toe until the ankle. Giddy God.”)

These teenspeak confessions are part of the line’s clever marketing campaign, created to offer a glimpse into the life of a superstar’s scion, with the hope of reaching the line’s intended, and sometimes dubious, demographic, such as 17-year-old Jersey City blogger Arabelle Sicardi. The Fashion Pirates writer (whose blog scores 10,000 daily hits) says, “I love Madonna, but I wasn’t blown away with it. It’s typical girly things that you can find at Forever 21.”

Which, she adds, is where she and her friends most frequently clothes-hunt. “Honestly, I don’t know a lot of teens that talk about shopping at Macy’s and stuff,” she explains.

Of course, Macy’s is urgent to change that. In an effort to catch “fast fashion” retailers like Forever 21, H&M and Zara, the store is attempting something it’s never tried in its 152 years: stocking fresh Material Girl pieces on a daily basis at prices that undercut most of their other juniors lines. Most of the MG collection — including clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry — retails between $12 and $40, mirroring Forever’s price points.

“Teens shop with such frequency, we want them to come in and find something different every time,” says Smith.

The Macy’s Herald Square location has sacrificed 4,000 square feet of real estate for the line, and will host appearances by Momsen (for the big launch on Aug. 3) and Madonna and Lola on Sept. 22.

Despite these grand orchestrations, the MG line is sure to be compared to the spate of teen-celeb collections recently launched or planned: Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift for Wal-Mart, Selena Gomez for Kmart, Britney Spears for Kohl’s.

Gomez, the 18-year-old star of tween hit “Wizards of Waverly Place,” praises Lola’s style while defending the more down-to-earth aesthetic of her Dream Out Loud collection for Kmart, launching in August.

“My line may not be edgy, but that’s because I’m not edgy,” she says. “From my understanding, her line is more high-fashion.”

That, and heavily influenced by ensembles from Madge’s heydays, with hard-soft mashups of bustiers and ballet flats, floppy bow headbands and studded bangles, leather, lace, ruffles and rivets. The effect is Desperately Seeking Madonna’s Greatest Hits.

But can today’s pop princesses even name the Material Girl’s albums?

Teen blogger Sicardi breaks the news of Madge’s untimely demise gently. “Madonna is still amazing and everyone should respect her,” she says, “but it’s the time of Lady Gaga.”

(In all of the interviews for this article, only a teen dared utter such pop-culture sacrilege.)

“"This generation knows everything there is to know about Lourdes and probably a lot less about Madonna,"” says Louise Roe, a fashion expert on youth-aimed reality shows such as MTV's “The City.” “"The moms who are shopping for their kids will probably connect more to the Madonna thing."”

A point not likely lost on famously savvy businesswoman Madonna. Her association with the line could prove ironically reassuring to moms who remember their own Madonna-inspired tutu-and-leather outfits.

Designer Betsey Johnson, 67, responsible for designing some of those very looks, heads her own fashion family, collaborating with daughter Lulu Johnson-Margulies for the last 21 years.

“"You’re too close, you care too much, you worry too much and you expect too much,"” she says of mother-daughter collaborations.

Still, Johnson says, she wouldn't trade their working relationship.

Neither would Lulu, who began working in her mom’s first store on Thompson Street at age 14. But she does suggest that Lourdes stay young as long as possible, travel, attend college and not compare her own journey to that of her famous mother’s.

“"I'm sure Madonna, like my mother always did, just wants Lourdes to be happy and explore different things,"” she says.

That, or take over the world, one sequined belly top at a time.

[horn]

IF YOUR mother had sold 250 million records, had more number ones than any other female artist...

That's me, bitch!

[ryan]

Mmm... Am I the only one thinking that a 13 years old girl should't really be messing aroud with some bit of clothing and that noone would really care if she wasn't M's daughter?

I mean, a prepubescent child fashion designer?

It just all feels really awkward to me

She and Rocco designed a purse back in 2005

[TOUR2008]

Macy's Hopes Madonna's Line Puts Retailer On Map With Teens

By Karen Talley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Macy's Inc. (M) doesn't plan to sell cone bras to its customers, but the department store is hoping its new line by Madonna and her daughter Lourdes will resonate with a new generation of teens who didn't grow up listening to the Material Girl's music.

The approach is Macy's first deep foray into "fast fashion," apparel that is trendy and moves out of doors quickly. The line, called Material Girl, puts Macy's up against specialty stores like Forever 21 that devote their entire floor spaces and fortunes to teens. The potential return is significant, with roughly $25 billion spent annually on teen apparel, according to NPD Group.

The line also helps Macy's reinvent itself. The retailer for the last year or so has been revamping the way it receives and sells merchandise, with significant emphasis on tailoring inventory to local tastes.

Material Girl makes its debut Aug. 3, when Macy's opens curtained-off areas in stores to introduce a line that aims to be both edgy and accessible. Tutu-style dresses and alligator skin shoes will stand aside corduroy jackets and stone-washed jeans.

The line "is a real image enhancer for us," said Martine Reardon, Macy's executive vice president of marketing. "The fact that Madonna and her daughter are behind this should make it a real winner."

Teens shopping last week in the junior's department at Macy's Herald Square store in midtown Manhattan expressed interest in the line--and added that it might have an added benefit..

"I think it's cool," said Jessica Allen, a 15-year-old from Queens. "My mom wants to see it, too. She likes Madonna and her look."

While there are certainly influences of early-career Madonna in the line--sheer lace tops and midrift-baring black leather jackets--there are no over-the-top items, like the cone bras that brought Madonna personal fashion notoriety.

Macy's and Iconix Brands Group Inc. (ICON), which is collaborating with Madonna and Lourdes on the line, said it was primarily influenced by Lourdes' fashion sense, with research extending to going through Lourdes' closet.

Macy's will not disclose its financial arrangement with Madonna or what the retailer hopes to see in sales. Iconix has said in a regulatory filing that it will pay Madonna as much $30 million to partner with her on fashion brands. An Iconix spokeswoman said Material Girl, which is exclusive to Macy's, is one of the brands and declined to break out what percentage of the $30 million it represents. Madonna and a partner own 50% of Material Girl, with Iconix owning the other half.

Macy's will initially place the line in 200 of its roughly 800 stores, which the company said is a pretty typical number of locations for a merchandise rollout. The department store will gauge demand and consider adding the line to additional locations, Reardon said. The apparel, shoes, jewelry and handbags will range from $12 to $40. Macy's already envisions extending the line into fragrances next year.

Consumers will soon be seeing Material Girl promos, with Macy's planning to advertise the merchandise in magazines, online, on billboards, over the radio, in movie theaters and through social media. Macy's declined to say how much the advertising campaign will cost.

Macy's has chosen the right representatives to step up its presence in teen retailing, while adding to its roster of products backed by celebrities, said John Long, retail strategist at Kurt Salmon Associates. "You have the more youthful element with her daughter, and Madonna has demonstrated staying power, appeal across generations and an edge."

Department stores have to work hard to avoid being thought of as dated, given the proliferation of specialty stores that focus just on teens and young adults, and the only downside would be if Material Girl did not catch on, said John Rosen, executive director of Marketing Consulting Associates. "If it misses the mark, it will be harder to get that audience to give Macy's next attempt a shot."

[Flip The Switch]

uh-oh.

[acko]

Didn't Macy's have the original 'Madonnaland' section selling the Madonna look during the Virgin era?

& What was that 'Evita' thing again? I remember there being a collection based on the Eva look, though not

with Madonna's signature.

[HolidayGuy]

That first pic of Lourdes (with M) is a very Madonna-like expression/pose.

Let's put all of the MG/Madge+Lola articles in this thread. Thanks.

[Flip The Switch]

That first pic of Lourdes (with M) is a very Madonna-like expression/pose.

Let's put all of the MG/Madge+Lola articles in this thread. Thanks.

It's funny how she makes that mouth expression (I hate that) just liker her mom. Like she's smelling something rotten.

[Guest]

I agree, it's a haunting likeness to her mother in the first picture.

[Guest Rali]

Sigmund Freud, analyze this. Anything to paint Madonna mad or evil.

A single tongue-in-cheek comment and she's made out to be a psycho concerned her own daughter might attract more attention.

I believe the much simpler explanation is Madonna is a proud mother.

M sees a great deal of herself in Lola and has probably decided to provide the knowledge and guidence (and influence) to turn Lola into the next Queen of Pop.

That's fine by me, as long as Lourdes keeps her lovely head on her shoulders and her feet on the ground, the way Madonna herself does.

[Nightshade]

M sees a great deal of herself in Lola and has probably decided to provide the knowledge and guidence (and influence) to turn Lola into the next Queen of Pop.

She will fail. Madonna (the entity) cannot be replicated, even by genetic means. I think Madonna knows this.

I am hoping for a fashionable, Award-winning actress who continues her mother's charity work. I wouldn't mind seeing her in a musical some day though.

[Andra]

Lola even got her mom's cheeks

[TOUR2008]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1298417/Material-meets-Gossip-Girl-Madonna-daughter-Lourdes-direct-Taylor-Momsen-fashion-shoot-new-clothing-brand.html

[ryan]

Didn't Macy's have the original 'Madonnaland' section selling the Madonna look during the Virgin era?

i always wanted to see photos of those clothes, i forget what they looked like

[Camacho]

Madonna prepares for launch of Lourdes' fashion line

Posted: 12:23 AM, July 29, 2010

Madonna moved into her East Hampton mansion over the weekend to prepare for the launch of daughter Lourdes' Material Girl fashion line. Madge was spotted at the six-bedroom English stucco estate on Lily Pond Lane near the homes of Martha Stewart and Jerry Della Femina, according to madisonavenuesalesgirl.com blogger Jayne Geller. Geller, a top saleswoman at Barneys, and her 18-year-old daughter, Remy, are in talks with production companies to do TV segments on Lourdes' new line.

[Guest chatty kathy]

M's new material

Material Girl Clothing Line Launched At Macy’s Today

By Eileen Reslen

Madonna and daughter Lourdes' clothing line (a.k.a. Material Girl) hit stores today and we were on the scene with some of the shoppers at Macy's in New York City as they received the original Material Girl treatment by walking on a pink carpet, eating sprinkled cupcakes and even jammin’ to some of Madonna’s greatest hits!

But, while the music icon herself wasn’t actually present at the Macy’s premiere, fans of the line were greeted by some 80s inspired Madonna lookalikes that had you think you were seeing double (or at times quadruple).

And whether you are age 15 or 25, fashionistas agree that the mother/ daughter duo has discovered exactly how to bring out your best style at any age.Maria Paula Garcia, 11, *little girl with white shirt standing in front of ad* said wearing these clothes would surely make her stand out from the crowd.“We don’t see this everyday,” she said of the line. "The skirts definitely [i would wear to school].”

It’s not just school girls who are looking to show off their amazing style. Even the working gal can find make a statement in one of Madge and Lola’s designs.

Clothing designer and Madonna superfan Rebecca Szymczak, 27, said there are a range of looks that make it easy to choose outfits for a day inside the office or a night out in the city. “You definitely see kind of like a younger more street vintage inspired vibe and then you can see the more refined and tailored silhouettes,” she said.

However it’s not just look of the clothes that draws in a crowd because apparently the price tag is just as appealing.

Source: http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2010/08/03/madonna-material-girl-macys-launch/

Congrat's is offically due M & Lola! You both deserve it! Hope this line brings plenty of success for both of you!(And from what I've seen, I think it will)

[Skin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdMgh7I9e-0