Madonna for Harper’s Bazaar

Posted on Nov 10, 2011 in Fashion

Her directorial debut, W.E., opened to laughter and jeers, leaving Madonna’s future as a director somewhat in doubt, but we have to say, this is a sassy and stylish editorial. It’s interesting how the film is being heavily pitched to the fashion crowds. It’s like she took a page from the Tom Ford playbook. The difference being, Tom made an inoffensive two-hour long cologne commercial with a heartstring-tugging lead and Madge tried to make a sympathetic portrayal of Wallis Simpson.

Anyway, it’s an eye-catching black-and-white themed editorial with an appropriately cinematic undertone. The ladies look great, but we kind of feel for Andrea Riseborough. She’s sharing the frame with the world’s biggest focus-puller.

Madonna for Harper's Bazaar Madonna and Andrea Riseborough featured in the December 2011 issue of Harper’s Bazaar photographed by Tom Munro and styled by Arianne Phillips.

Madonna for Harper's Bazaar

Madonna for Harper's Bazaar On Riseborough: Gown, Nina Ricci. Earrings, $1,430, Tom Ford. On Madonna: Dress, Tom Ford. Ring, Repossi. Fishnets, $45, Wolford. Pumps, $795,Yves Saint Laurent.

Madonna for Harper's Bazaar

On Madonna: Turtleneck, $900, Jil Sander. Pants, $711, Francesco Scognamiglio. Belt, $550, Yves Saint Laurent. On Riseborough: Gown, $4,990, Oscar de la Renta.

Madonna for Harper's Bazaar Shirt, $1,195, and dress, $2,295, Calvin Klein Collection. Cuff, Repossi.

Madonna for Harper's Bazaar Bodysuit, $795, Donna Karan New York. Skirt, $595, Maison Martin Margiela.Gloves, $95, Gaspar. Cuff, $1, 050, Hermes. Fishnets, $45, Wolford. Pumps, $795, Yves Saint Laurent.

Madonna for Harper's Bazaar Cape, $2,180, Rick Owens. Pants, $711, Francesco Scognamiglio. Beret, $80, Lola Hats.

[Photo Credit: Tom Munro for harpersbazaar.com]

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1326120071 Gaby Ripoll

Madonna’s WERQ’ing it. She looks electric! Let’s ignore the photoshop just this once because it’s basically ubiquitous. My hope is eventually we’ll get bored with it and real skin will become the new sexy. (and while I’m daydreaming I’ll take that job as in-house counsel, LVMH.)
I have pretty much no interest in this other girl, nope.
- Anonymous
  
  Ditto!
http://profiles.google.com/shannonlstewart Shannon Stewart

And she chose to try to portray Wallis Simpson as somehow a heroine THE YEAR AFTER THE KING’S SPEECH! How can you NOT realize what terrible timing that is?

But the costuming was pretty. And Madonna looks great here; I don’t know if she was photoshopped or if she got the surgeries re-done, but her face is better.
- Anonymous
  
  photoshop.
  
  i didnt know there was enough photoshop in the world to make madonna look tall but apparently i dont even know everything about things about which i know everything.
  - http://profiles.google.com/shannonlstewart Shannon Stewart
    
    Angles and wardrobe help a lot — The pants in the first shot will make anyone of average height look tall (and those of below average height should never wear them as they will overpower:)
    - Anonymous
      
      Seriously, when I first saw the cover shot, I thought ‘I didn’t know Madonna was 6 feet tall…”
      - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=25500124 Eric Jacobs
        
        We can’t forget those YSL pumps which, if she’s wearing the same ones throughout the shoot, are revealed to be what looks like 6-7 inches…work!
    - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LIUCVV4VMG352LPLOJJ7GCVF5E Karen
      
      That’s true, but Madonna is also very well-proportioned and has charisma to burn. I’ve always thought both of those factors were more important than height in terms of how people photograph and wear clothes.
- Anonymous
  
  I might see W.E. only for the costumes. From what i’ve read, Madge became caught up in the whole shtick about the Windsors’ style.
- Anonymous
  
  AND…she’s an American doing a re-telling of a British Constitutional crisis.
  
  They didn’t even like Dick Van Dyke playing a Cockney, how were they going respond to this.
  
  I’d be interested to see this, because of the subject, but if she’s turned Wallis & Edward, two Nazi sympathizers, into heros, she’s incredibly stupid.–GothamTomato
Anonymous

I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I am so so over Madonna. Tired. She needs to go away.
- Anonymous
  
  i think you are beginning to be in the majority. here there everywhere.
  i only wish you were in the majority circa, say, 1983. we had so much better we couldve been promoting instead.
  - Lulu Lafurge
    
    The thing is, Madonna has buttloads of style, savvy and self-promotion, but there is no substance to go with it. She is destined to wear down to a nub of no consequence. If she is remembered in the future, it will be for the public’s response to her, not for anything that she truly had to offer.
http://www.facebook.com/fiddlecub Kevin VanOrd

I want to know where the eyeglasses came from; they give her a sexy and intellectual look that works for her here, and I’d love to see that style cultivated. Not that I suddenly believe Madonna to be a great intellectual, just that she can pull off the facade.
- Anonymous
  
  Maybe she really wears glasses, who knows, but as a lifelong nearsighted person, I’m so annoyed with the visual shorthand of “glasses make me look smart or at least like I know what I’m doing” for any idiotic dilettante.
Anonymous

Her directorial debut, W.E., opened to laughter and jeers, leaving Madonna’s future as a director somewhat in doubt

Well it’s not her first movie flop and it probably will not be her last.

Also, I never noticed how long Madge’s legs were… hmmm… gotta love photoshop
- margaret meyers
  
  Shanghai Surprise, Dick Tracy, Evita, Truth or Dare, Swept Away. and now W.E. yikes.
  - http://beautyforrealgirls.blogspot.com/ accidental housewife
    
    She’ll never learn.
  - Max Wirestone
    
    To be fair, she didn’t make Dick Tracy.
    - Anonymous
      
      I loved Dick Tracy in the theater. I was 10.
  - Anonymous
    
    I thought Evita was tolerably good, actually. But I’ll give you the rest, hands-down.
  - Anonymous
    
    Evita was fantastic and she won the Golden Globe for it. She’s the only good in the otherwise dreadful Dick Tracy. The rest are dreck, but Evita is a gorgeous film.
http://twitter.com/younglibrarian Katie Dunneback

That’s some damn good photo editing with the touch ups. I’d swear in the last two photos showing her face that Madonna was younger than me, and she’s about 15 years older than me. Interesting photos overall. The black-and-white styling treats both of them well. I’m also drawn to those wide-legged pants.
Anonymous

Riseborough is stunning. She obviously wasn’t given the opportunity to outshine Madonna in this shoot.I have no idea whether she could or not, just saying that she is clearly a prop for Madonna here.

It is a fun editorial, though.
- Anonymous
  
  Look at the copy on the cover: “Madonna & her new star, Andrea Riseborough”
  
  I think that kinda says it all…
Anonymous

In that second cover shot, Madge looks amazingly/scarily like Faye Dunaway.

And yes, I feel sorry for the poor starlet. Madonna sucks all the attention out of the room. She’s like a black hole of attention. You can’t help looking at her, for whatever reason.
- Anonymous
  
  Jinx! (Actually, you said it first. . . but I didn’t see till now.)
- http://twitter.com/susanpcollier Susan Collier
  
  I had to laugh at the cover print “MADONNA” (and in much smaller font underneath) “and her new star, some other person”.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OSYAJATXUH3QX7ZDDF52GXG4PU Janie R

Photoshop much?
Anonymous

Good God, how does a “bodysuit” cost $800? Maybe it doesn’t mean what I think it does as it looks like something a little kid (say, one of Madge’s possible great grandchildren) might wear to ballet class.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2CNDPMVO4W23R5TVC2QMTJ5BZE Heather
  
  I think the $45 fishnets are equally offensive.
Anonymous

$900 turtleneck! I don’t know why of all the pieces and prices, that’s the one that jumps out as totally whack.
- Anonymous
  
  Haha, agreed! For some reason the $900 turtleneck was the one that made me balk too.
Anonymous

So much is the pull of Madge that I didn’t even realize that Andrea’s stand alone shot wasn’t Madonna on my first scroll through.
Anonymous

This looks like a modernist version of Snow White.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3DWDLRZCK3MZICZKYJDR55MC4Y soren

Both of the covers are kind of creepy. The first one is like “Madona and her new movie star that she grew in her laboratory” and the second one is like “Madona and her new movie star that she has taken hostage and is using as a human shield.”
- Anonymous
  
  Exactly. “She’s mine, suckers!”
- BerlinerNYC
  
  Yes! My first thought was that she’d snap her neck if she mouthed off.
Anonymous

Madonna’s legs in the top cover are photoshopped so extremely that it is offensive. If her legs were actually that thin at the upper thigh, she would be seriously ill. Loving her throwback hair though. And wow can she work a camera… legend for a reason.
margaret meyers

Do the eyeglasses mean she’s smart or do they mean she’s middle-aged and has macular degeneration?
Anonymous

yeah, whatever.
Anonymous

I’m still upset that she became huge and Cyndi Lauper had an up and down career.
- Anonymous
  
  But you know when certain songs come on, you think “There’s a classic for the ages,” while certain other songs make you go “That was the 80s.” Time will bear out the truth!
  - Anonymous
    
    Time After Time is the former.
    - http://twitter.com/susanpcollier Susan Collier
      
      As is “I Drove All Night.” “She Bop” is the latter.
- Anonymous
  
  Me too! Of course, I’, also still upset that the Dodgers left Brooklyn, and that happened long before I was born.
Anonymous

I like the editorial, the black and white, very nice. Have great hopes for the starlet.
Anonymous

fancy new fonts, t.lo!
Lulu Lafurge

I think the shoot is corny and dumb.
Anonymous

The pictures would be better with Madonna not in them. The black haired actress is very pretty.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1229199146 Tara Gray Burkholder

Anyone else think her glasses are 3D glasses with the lenses popped out like all the other wannabe hipsters?
Anonymous

In the next to the last photo, she looks like she’s in the stilt walker challenge on PR.

I am so terribly over Madonna.
Anonymous

I want that cape outfit!
J Dreesen

cinematic *under*tone?!

*under*statement of the year (ba-DUM bum!).
http://asskickingadviser.com/ Ass Kicking Adviser

Yes, let’s ignore the photoshop because I love her and this is cool and I like the pics and dammit! it’s Madonna.
Those black pants are crazy fabulous!
Anonymous

That first shot, where she’s kneeling — my knees hurt just looking at it. But the shot of her in the turtleneck, skirt and big glasses is great! The older she gets the more her face looks like my paternal grandmother’s. Same nose.
- MilaXX
  
  I want those glasses
Anonymous

Madge looks good as Faye Dunaway.
Anonymous

Ooh, new masthead! Or has it been there for, like, 3 weeks, and I’m only just noticing it now?
- MilaXX
  
  I think it’s recent. I like it.
  - Anonymous
    
    Me, too. Understated.
- Anonymous
  
  TLo are switching their image to reflect their recent experience with font Weight Watchers.
  - Anonymous
    
    Very slimming.
- Anonymous
  
  I noticed something too, but thought it was my imagination….. very nice!
MilaXX

I like this Madge’s face seems to have settled from what ever procedure she may or may not have had done and she seems to be dressing more appropriately. I hear her leaked single sucks so I haven’t bothered to chase it down.
Anonymous

Must know what style those glasses are!
- Judy_J
  
  I was wondering about that myself. I love those frames.
Anonymous

J’adore the first cover. Must. Have. Those. Pants. Top. And. Hat. Two snaps with a super fierce figuue 8 all around!
Anonymous

I randomly saw the 4 Minutes video on Pop-Up Video today (don’t judge me) and so a lot of this editorial is actually reminding me of that. I honestly appreciate, in this case, how much they photoshopped her face, because I can tell you in that video it is scary and depressing. I prefer my Madge looking fabulous, thank you. I wish she would just age and become a fierce bitch who doesn’t give a shit because she’s FINALLY OLD and can do what she wants.

It’s not even that she’s OLD old. It’s that I fantasize about what a huge bitch I’ll be when I get old old, and also all the desperate surgery and crazy working out depresses me.
- Anonymous
  
  Amen to aging with bravado (bravada?). I’m approaching 60, and rather than being a piece of furniture, it’s fun to try new things I’d never have done at 25 for fear of looking silly. Now silly is okay, doing something different that doesn’t work out is okay, dressing to please myself, not some trend or marketer’s mandate, is okay. It’s a lovely time.
- Anonymous
  
  “I wish she would just age and become a fierce bitch who doesn’t give a
  shit because she’s FINALLY OLD and can do what she wants.”
  
  I haven’t ranted about this in a while & I’ll try not to go completely off the rails, but YES. The modern Madonna makes me sad & mad because I never bought into her persona because she was the prettiest or most talented (she was so definitely neither) but because she projected this “I can do it & therefore you can do it because we can invent it ourselves & won’t take no” attitude.
  
  Now all she projects is “I’m still hot, right? Hanging on by the fingernails, surgery, mad exercise, strategic dressing and photoshop – whatever it takes – I’ve still got it, right? RIGHT?????”
  
  And if somebody with her money and connections and obvious wide range of interests can’t say “this is who I am now, I have better things to do than spend an increasing amount of my life struggling for ’29 and holding,’ ” well, it makes me sad. And really, rather angry.
  
  And I am left compelled to point out, Madge, honey, that “35 and holding” is starting to slip away. Too bad, so sad.
  
  ETA: Kinda failed at not going off the rails, huh?
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Rhodes/602850414 Catherine Rhodes
    
    Well said, formerlyAnon. Madonna was one of those people who just gave the world the finger, she was going to do it her way. It’s not like her to be so … desperate.
    
    I wish she’d just say, I’m 52, yeah I’ve got wrinkles, want to make something of it?
    
    Makes me admire Patti Smith.
    - Anonymous
      
      I used to admire Patti Smith because she was such a great combo of ‘tougher than any of the boys’ and unquestionably a woman. Plus I liked her androgynous anti-style style. Over the years I’ve come to admire her for [what little I know of] the way she’s lived her life.
      
      Can’t really say any better than that about anyone.
Anonymous

I’m just going to pretend I’m really stupid and believe that Madonna actually looks this good and those ‘live’ shots of her out and about are the ones that ARE Photoshopped.
Anonymous

the photographer should give up his photo credit to the retouch artist.
- Anonymous
  
  Imagine the blood that would have been spilled if the photographer didn’t retouch the photographs to the point where she looks younger than her daughter.
  
  For some reason I don’t think Madonna would tolerate looking her age in a Harper’s photo essay.
Jacqueline Craig

Wow, and somehow she looks younger than she did 20 years ago… Which isn’t to say I can’t appreciate the photos artistically but honestly! What’s the point even, it’s not like we don’t all know how old she is and what she actually looks like in real life. I know ‘Like a Virgin’ seems like yesterday to me being as I’m so old and all, but it really wasn’t and it’s just kind of tragic to see her trying to look that age still.
Anonymous

Andrea Riseborough looks stunning in that portrait shot.
Anonymous

How the hell can a body suit cost $795.???
http://profiles.google.com/dchockeyguy Trevor Burroughs

Um, okay, I’m going to have to play stupid here. What’s the Hermes’ cuff? (I know who Hermes is, but not a cuff)
https://profiles.google.com/104791269167429064986 Judy S

Um, TLo, your captions are off. One of them I can’t figure out at all.
Anonymous

I <3 it all!
Anonymous

Madonna looks better than I’ve seen her in years. But I have a strong feeling that Photoshop helped her along.
http://twitter.com/TwiterlessTerri Terri

It’s interesting to me that Madonna so dominates these pictures when the other woman is supposed to be a “star.”
http://opinionandamovie.blogspot.com/ Deitra S.

Does anybody else get a sort of Wicked Queen/Snow White vibe from that second picture? It’s all “Go scrub the floors and stay away from the windows, sweetie, Mommy has to get a baby seal placenta facial” quality to it. That one’s kinda creepy – but still an awesome shoot overall!
Cathy S

I really loved that! She looks fantastic.
Anonymous

She can still give face, even when the skin has been photoshopped to look like plastic.
Anonymous

P.s. There is a photo shoot of Joni Mitchell from the late 70s with beret, cape & miles of pants leg that I wish I could find (or even remember where I saw it) after seeing the next to last photo.
- Anonymous
  
  That’s Hejira: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9e/Hejira_cover.jpg
  - Anonymous
    
    Thanks! I’m sure I saw a whole bunch of photos of her wearing that outfit, showing her full body, somewhere. Ah well. The deteriorating memory.
Anonymous

Wow, Madonna’s wearing glasses. She must be SMART!
M N

I am creeped out by the second cover. They have almost the exact same face, and it just makes me think Madonna is absorbing the younger woman’s essence, like a Skeksi.
Anonymous

Madonna looks great…work or no work. If she’s had work…honey, who is her surgeon, because that doctor did a good job. Photoshopping is part of fashion publications, so whatever. Madonna certainly is not the first entertainer over 40 to have her photos retouched.
Anonymous

Nah, doesn’t make me want to see the movie or read about it.
Anonymous

Those black pants are TRANSCENDENT. Madonna posing in them is… well, it’s worth whatever it will cost me to obtain and obsess over this issue. Madonna WERQING BLACK PANTS. Yes, sirs.
Anonymous

Lola’s mums head is ginormous. Too photoshopped - very comic bookish.
Lisa

LOVE HER!! She looks amazing, as she has been looking lately.
Anonymous

Those pants are perfection. Me want. Madonna’s been pissing me off in the last few years….but I kinda love this. Her face isn’t looking as freakish lately, no? Or is it just photoshop?
frankystein123

Madge looks great here.

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Madonna for Harper’s Bazaar

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