Jump to content

Madonnanation exclusive : Blond ambition tour early costumes sketches


Roland Barthes

Recommended Posts

10 years ago i shared the sketches on DrownedMadonna forum but since i didn't have a scan i took pics of them. I recently stumbled upon these phone pics with my nails showing so i decided to scan them properly after going to my mom's to get them.

They are early sketches made by Gaultier and published by french daily newspaper Libération on the day the Blond ambition tour hit Paris. He wanted her to shower on stage.

Enjoy :

IMG_20151015_0020.jpg

IMG_20151015_0016.jpgIMG_20151015_0017.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazing.

Madonna getting wet on stage in a JPG costume would've been an even more memorable image of the tour, though it was probably scrapped considering the complex logistics of the show.

And I also see that either the opening look for Express Yourself or closing look for Keep It Together where supposed to have these kind of long, negligee-type drawstrings? I guess they were supposed to be made of stretch material, so M could actually dance in them.

Thanks for posting these Roland. :kiss2:

Edited by billyto
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's cool to see the dark hair, too. Blond Ambition is awesome as it is, but I love ironic Madonna, and her with dark hair on a "blond" ambition tour will have been great! I love the pictures of her with dark hair in the early stages of this tour in the BA outfits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're welcome.

It's in this interview that Gaultier says that the only song that was scrapped at the last minute was "La isla bonita" and so were the costumes he made inspired by his

"skeletor collection". Sadly i did not keep the whole interview, just the cover and sketches. Oh and the sketch with the stocking suspenders were for the back up singers. Now picture Niki Harris in this outfit.

Here's the Thierry Perez sketch (he used to make them for Gaultier & Vogue as well as that infamous SEX book party invit). This one was for the cover of a french magazine in 94 if i remember well.

IMG_20151015_0018.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's very possible that these early sketches were not intended for the Blond Ambition Tour as we know it. Bear in mind that Pepsi announced in early 1989 that they would be sponsoring the 'Like a Prayer World Tour' that was to take place that year. I can't remember exactly but I think that tour was scrapped or pushed back due to her signing on for Dick Tracey. I believe the sketches with the brown hair (which is very reminiscent of the LAP video hair) were for costumes intended for the scrapped 1989 tour. I don't believe there was ever going to be a Blond Ambition Tour with a brunette Madonna. Also the sketches for what would become the BA Tour that have been widely circulating for years now all featured a blonde curly haired Madonna and were obviously intended for that tour.

When you weigh everything up that went down in '89 my theory kind of makes sense but it's just my own personal theory once again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i thought she was going to be brunette, in fact the pics with the dresses that later were part of TIC she has dark hair. It was because she wanted to mantain the image of Breathless Mahoney in the premiere because she toured blond?

surely somebody remembers, I just know for certain that she wanted to be brunette for a while but had to turn blond again because of the movie, that's why she's blond in Express Yourself video.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow how nice to see this

It also shows her ability to create something beautiful but more universal from these inspiring designs. thats an art on its own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If somebody has the french Glamour issue from may 1990 with M & Gaultier on the cover and can scan the Gaultier diary (a diary on their collaboration from the moment Herb Ritts called him on behalf of Madonna in october of 1989) we could settle this for good because if i remember well he talks about the brunette vs blond thing and why she finally toured as a bond.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's very possible that these early sketches were not intended for the Blond Ambition Tour as we know it. Bear in mind that Pepsi announced in early 1989 that they would be sponsoring the 'Like a Prayer World Tour' that was to take place that year. I can't remember exactly but I think that tour was scrapped or pushed back due to her signing on for Dick Tracey. I believe the sketches with the brown hair (which is very reminiscent of the LAP video hair) were for costumes intended for the scrapped 1989 tour. I don't believe there was ever going to be a Blond Ambition Tour with a brunette Madonna. Also the sketches for what would become the BA Tour that have been widely circulating for years now all featured a blonde curly haired Madonna and were obviously intended for that tour.

When you weigh everything up that went down in '89 my theory kind of makes sense but it's just my own personal theory once again.

"Dick Tracy" was not the reason for the tour's postponement: Madonna signed on to play Breathless Mahoney in December 1988.

The Pepsi deal -- including Pepsi's sponsorship of the "Like a Prayer World Tour" -- was announced in January 1989. The tour was simply said to be "later" that year. Obviously it never happened, and Blond Ambition was announced in November 1989.

I believe the tour was postponed / canceled due to a lack of sponsors. No one wanted to end up as the next Pepsi -- paying her millions only to get tarred and feathered by the religious right after her next controversy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's in this interview that Gaultier says that the only song that was scrapped at the last minute was "La isla bonita" and so were the costumes he made inspired by his "skeletor collection". Sadly i did not keep the whole interview, just the cover and sketches. Oh and the sketch with the stocking suspenders were for the back up singers. Now picture Niki Harris in this outfit.

I wonder where this was supposed to go in the setlist. The final section? Another encore?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Dick Tracy" was not the reason for the tour's postponement: Madonna signed on to play Breathless Mahoney in December 1988.

The Pepsi deal -- including Pepsi's sponsorship of the "Like a Prayer World Tour" -- was announced in January 1989. The tour was simply said to be "later" that year. Obviously it never happened, and Blond Ambition was announced in November 1989.

I believe the tour was postponed / canceled due to a lack of sponsors. No one wanted to end up as the next Pepsi -- paying her millions only to get tarred and feathered by the religious right after her next controversy.

Disney/Touchstone gave money for the tour hence why there was a whole dick tracy section in it, that was the deal. I bet they did not know about the nature of the show. Pioneer sponsored it too hence why we never had a proper video release because of rights being acquired by the company exclusively for i can't remember how many years.

Reebok was rumoured to be involved until the deal was called off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disney/Touchstone gave money for the tour hence why there was a whole dick tracy section in it, that was the deal. I bet they did not know about the nature of the show. Pioneer sponsored it too hence why we never had a proper video release because of rights being acquired by the company exclusively for i can't remember how many years.

Reebok was rumoured to be involved until the deal was called off.

Did Disney actually contribute financially? I thought they just allowed her to rehearse in their Burbank studio space.

And it was Nike, not Reebok :order:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, Reebok AND Nike actually :laugh:

Madonna Gets the Boot Again, This Time From Reebok
July 18, 1990|BRUCE HOROVITZ | TIMES STAFF WRITER
    • Email
      Share

Reebok has stopped holding its breath for "Breathless" Madonna.

The rock star, who plays the sensual Breathless Mahoney in the film "Dick Tracy," was dropped late Tuesday as a spokeswoman for the athletic shoe maker even before filming a single commercial. Reebok and Madonna, 31, had previously agreed to--but not signed--a contract that would reportedly have paid her nearly $6 million.

"Madonna's availability and our need to get her weren't a mesh," said Bernadette Mansur, Reebok's vice president of marketing communications. "We needed to get some benefits out of it to continue with the deal."

For Madonna, who is currently on a world tour that has received mixed reviews, the Reebok action must bring feelings of deja vu. Last year, Pepsi signed a $5-million endorsement contract with Madonna but aired her spot only once before yanking it from the U.S. market. The commercial was being confused by some consumers with her "Like a Prayer" music video that featured religious imagery that some found offensive. Pepsi later pulled out from sponsoring Madonna's planned U.S. tour.

pixel.gif

At the same time, suits and countersuits have been filed between Nike and Madonna. Representatives for Madonna claim the singer and Nike had signed a $4.25-million endorsement contract for which she was never paid. And in May, her song "Hanky Panky" was banned from some radio stations that received objections to lyrics like these: "Some guys like to sweet talk and others like to tease. Tie my hands behind my back and ooh, I'm in ecstasy."

Madonna, her manager and publicist were all out of the country and unavailable for comment.

A Pepsi spokesman declined to comment on the company's short-lived experiment with Madonna. But spokesman Tod MacKenzie said, "Any time you get involved with a personality of that stature, there's always the risk of the unknown."

One consultant who matches celebrities with sponsors said she is not surprised by the latest snafu between Madonna and Reebok. "Between her films, her concerts and her love affairs, I'm sure there would be a problem with most advertisers," said Noreen Jenney, president of Woodland Hills-based Celebrity Endorsement Network. "It takes a very special advertiser to take these kinds of risks."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i thought she was going to be brunette, in fact the pics with the dresses that later were part of TIC she has dark hair. It was because she wanted to mantain the image of Breathless Mahoney in the premiere because she toured blond?

surely somebody remembers, I just know for certain that she wanted to be brunette for a while but had to turn blond again because of the movie, that's why she's blond in Express Yourself video.

Here is what I remember as far as her "hair timeline" from this era, from the times I witnessed it (from MTV or the NY Daily News)-

January 1989- brunette, THEN the blonde forelock with brown hair (Pepsi commercial)

February 1989- MTV news reports Madonna wearing blonde wigs for her part as Breathless

February 1989- Madonna on MTV news clip with real hair cut with the blonde bob at the dace-a-thon. This blonde bob is in the Express Yourself video, and it's the hair used in the movie DT. According to their "sources", madonna said she wanted her part to be real, (something you can sink your teeth into) and that is why she cut and bleached her hair for the part.

Summer 1989- the bob was cut off due to over processing (Cherish video) according to MTV news

October 1989- during the Oh father set, she has her hair dyed light brown (which is why we see her with dark roots in some pictures and light brown in others) -also seen on the MTV mega awards acceptance when she kisses the award.

November 1989- hair is dyed dark brown/black the way we see it for the Keep it Together single, Blonde Ambition tourbook and the Immaculate Collection.

February 1990- dyed blonde for Vogue video and tour. I do recall JPG saying in an interview he wanted her to stay dark haired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, Reebok AND Nike actually :laugh:

Madonna Gets the Boot Again, This Time From Reebok
July 18, 1990|BRUCE HOROVITZ | TIMES STAFF WRITER
    • Email
      Share

Reebok has stopped holding its breath for "Breathless" Madonna.

The rock star, who plays the sensual Breathless Mahoney in the film "Dick Tracy," was dropped late Tuesday as a spokeswoman for the athletic shoe maker even before filming a single commercial. Reebok and Madonna, 31, had previously agreed to--but not signed--a contract that would reportedly have paid her nearly $6 million.

"Madonna's availability and our need to get her weren't a mesh," said Bernadette Mansur, Reebok's vice president of marketing communications. "We needed to get some benefits out of it to continue with the deal."

For Madonna, who is currently on a world tour that has received mixed reviews, the Reebok action must bring feelings of deja vu. Last year, Pepsi signed a $5-million endorsement contract with Madonna but aired her spot only once before yanking it from the U.S. market. The commercial was being confused by some consumers with her "Like a Prayer" music video that featured religious imagery that some found offensive. Pepsi later pulled out from sponsoring Madonna's planned U.S. tour.

pixel.gif

At the same time, suits and countersuits have been filed between Nike and Madonna. Representatives for Madonna claim the singer and Nike had signed a $4.25-million endorsement contract for which she was never paid. And in May, her song "Hanky Panky" was banned from some radio stations that received objections to lyrics like these: "Some guys like to sweet talk and others like to tease. Tie my hands behind my back and ooh, I'm in ecstasy."

Madonna, her manager and publicist were all out of the country and unavailable for comment.

A Pepsi spokesman declined to comment on the company's short-lived experiment with Madonna. But spokesman Tod MacKenzie said, "Any time you get involved with a personality of that stature, there's always the risk of the unknown."

One consultant who matches celebrities with sponsors said she is not surprised by the latest snafu between Madonna and Reebok. "Between her films, her concerts and her love affairs, I'm sure there would be a problem with most advertisers," said Noreen Jenney, president of Woodland Hills-based Celebrity Endorsement Network. "It takes a very special advertiser to take these kinds of risks."

I'd never heard of the Reebok deal!

"It takes a very special advertiser to take these kinds of risks." :lol::lol::lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is exciting. I love seeing these sketches (and thanks so much for sharing them!). These sketches make me wonder now- if there was a Like A Prayer Tour in 1989, how will the setlist have been? There was no Vogue, or I'm Breathless material. We see these sketches, but imagine what else there was. I am really interested now. Will she have worn the wigs for DT to keep her hair long and brown...will she have divided the show in four sections...will it have been as theatric...it's almost Pepsi cancelling brought us BAT as it is. It will have been the LAP tour in 89, then what- DT in 1990. What about TOD? Recording Erotica in 1990? TIC? It's so interesting!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is what I remember as far as her "hair timeline" from this era, from the times I witnessed it (from MTV or the NY Daily News)-

January 1989- brunette, THEN the blonde forelock with brown hair (Pepsi commercial)

February 1989- MTV news reports Madonna wearing blonde wigs for her part as Breathless

February 1989- Madonna on MTV news clip with real hair cut with the blonde bob at the dace-a-thon. This blonde bob is in the Express Yourself video, and it's the hair used in the movie DT. According to their "sources", madonna said she wanted her part to be real, (something you can sink your teeth into) and that is why she cut and bleached her hair for the part.

Summer 1989- the bob was cut off due to over processing (Cherish video) according to MTV news

October 1989- during the Oh father set, she has her hair dyed light brown (which is why we see her with dark roots in some pictures and light brown in others) -also seen on the MTV mega awards acceptance when she kisses the award.

November 1989- hair is dyed dark brown/black the way we see it for the Keep it Together single, Blonde Ambition tourbook and the Immaculate Collection.

February 1990- dyed blonde for Vogue video and tour. I do recall JPG saying in an interview he wanted her to stay dark haired.

Thanks Willie!!!

And I never knew that Disney was sponsoring that sinful tour!!!! Hahaha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If somebody has the french Glamour issue from may 1990 with M & Gaultier on the cover and can scan the Gaultier diary (a diary on their collaboration from the moment Herb Ritts called him on behalf of Madonna in october of 1989) we could settle this for good because if i remember well he talks about the brunette vs blond thing and why she finally toured as a bond.

Amazing sketches. Thanks for sharing, Roland.

Found the Glamour 1990 scans. Is the diary stuff there?

http://onthecoverofamagazine.blogspot.sg/2009/01/glamour-france-june-1990-herb-ritts.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazing sketches. Thanks for sharing, Roland.

Found the Glamour 1990 scans. Is the diary stuff there?

http://onthecoverofamagazine.blogspot.sg/2009/01/glamour-france-june-1990-herb-ritts.html

Thank you for posting. The scans are tiny but i managed to get some infos.

The sketches i posted from Liberation are the first set of sketches he made for her and brought her to New York in november of 1989 when they first met for the project.

He says in this Glamour diary that his idea was to have her appear on stage as the Madonna (mother of Jesus) and to remove the layers of clothes she wore after each song to end up showering on stage = "Shiny and new". This matches the sketches. The inspiration was his spring/summer 90 ready to wear collection "Les nonnes" (the nuns). It also inspired the final LAP costume. Here two ads for the collection :

image.jpgth_1.jpg

In this Glamour Diary we learn that Madonna loved the idea but it was Christopher who vetoed it "We already have too much problems with the church" (Gaultier quoting him saying in this article)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's also in this Glamour diary we learn about the La Isla Bonita costume (not in Liberation as i wrongfully remembered).

We indeed saw the costume since it was produced before the song was removed from the setlist in early feb. 90 (according to the diary).

It was toreador pants and bra (she finally wore a torreador costume for the track on the Rebel Heart tour^^).

We first saw the pants in this pic from french Elle when Gaultier first posed with the costumes on Stockman mannequins.

Elle_France_May_1990_page_99_copy.jpg

We then saw Madonna trying the costume on in the Polaroids from the fitting that were at the Gaultier exhibit :

image.jpgmadonna_jean_paul_gaultier_book_the_Fash

At the Gaultier exhibit there was a bra attributed to Madonna i'd never seen her wear and it's the La Isla Bonita bra. We can see it in the above pic and here photgraphed by the press for the exhibit :

3832423.jpg

As to where La Isla Bonita would have been in the setlist, my guess is that it was in lieu of Holiday. Since an early version of the Keep it together costume can be seen here worn on the Bonita costume :

madonna_jean_paul_gaultier_book_09.jpg

And since the Holiday costume is the only costume from the show Gaultier did not make. It was a Marlene Stewart creation based on the top Madonna wore in the "San Diego" shoot with Herb Ritts in december 89. It must have been produced in a rush when she switched the songs so late.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Willie!!!

And I never knew that Disney was sponsoring that sinful tour!!!! Hahaha

You're welcome! This is when I started becoming a "real" fan, and I was so interested in every detail. It was crazy how it seemed like MTV news always has some news about her, and also the NY Daily News. It's a shame I didn't get to record everything, or save every article, but I sure do remember! Also, this whole thread is so exciting, as I said. I am really grateful for all of the information in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roland, such a terrif job with this thread! You really did lay down the mystery over the "shower" and La Isla Bonita for the show. When we first heard of the two, I thought the shower thing was part of LAB.

That original concept of BAT sounds real interesting, would have loved to have seen her as the Virgin Mary. Thank so much for sharing everything!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...