Madonna wannabe
A Madonna wannabe, or Madonnabe, is a person (usually female) who dresses or acts like American singer Madonna. When she emerged into stardom in the mid-1980s, an unusually high number of women, particularly young women and girls, began to dress and do their hair and makeup in the style that Madonna displayed in public. The term was popularized by writer John Skow in a May 1985 Time cover story on the singer.[1] Numerous sociologists and other academics commented on the Madonna influence in her wannabes.
The term was officially recognized by the
History
In 1982, Madonna met French jewelry designer
Some authors placed her video "
"The bright side of this trend is that these Wanna Be's (as in "We wanna be like Madonna!") could be out somewhere stealing hubcaps. Instead, all of them, hundreds of thousands of young blossoms whose actual ages run from a low of about eight to a high of perhaps 25, are saving up their baby-sitting money to buy cross-shaped earrings and fluorescent rubber bracelets like Madonna's, white lace tights that they will cut off at the ankles and black tube skirts that, out of view of their parents, they will roll down several turns at the waist to expose their middles and the waistbands of the pantyhose."[1]
The style has been described as a
Reactions
The trend impacted retailers and also costume contests of that era, thus Madonna's trademark look became an iconic fashion trend of the 1980s.[14][4] Macy's, opened their "Madonnaland" in 1985, a boutique selling clothes modelled after the singer's style.[15][16] In June 1985, there was a look-alike contest at Macy's Herald Square in New York City.[17] Pop artist Andy Warhol, who Madonna had met through her relationship with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, her stylist Maripol, MTV contributor Nina Blackwood, and Madonna: Lucky Star author Michael McKenzie were the judges.[18][19][4] After its launch of "Madonnaland" by Macy's, many other retailers followed suit.[8]
In the TV program The 80's: The Decade that Made Us by the National Geographic, it was explained that "Madonna inspires countless girls across the globe to hit the nearest shopping mall to match her distinctive style".[20] Editors of Garb: A Fashion and Culture Reader (2008), described the target as "an immense following of copycat teenagers",[21] and it led to American journalist Ricardo Baca call her "the most imitated woman" in the world.[22] It was described the fad was seem to be "everywhere", and a mall was dubbed "Madonna Mall" because of the many girls who shopped there.[23] Author Jennifer Grayer Moore, wrote in Fashion Fads Through American History (2015): "The Madonna Wannabe phenomenon demonstrates the power of a mass-media personality to set a style and impact the fashion industry both by offering licensed products and by stimulating the sale of mainstream items".[13]
Chuck Klosterman notes while girls dressed like Madonna, "she never demanded them to do so".[24] Madonna reacted to this trend, and revealed in an interview with The Washington Post her own surprise for this phenomenon at the fact that a way of dressing she had chosen had suddenly become, quite spontaneously in fashion.[25] In another interview with Michael Gross in 1985, she revealed: "I was flattered that people wanted to look like me and dress me. But I think it was all part of a spirit that I had, and I think that the people who wanted to dress like me saw the humor more than anybody else".[26]
Impact on young female audiences
The Madonna wannabe phenomenon was studied by sociologists and other academics, as was noted by Spanish professor and philosopher
In the journal
Continuity with the term
Following the disappearance of the trend, critics and public used the term to refer female pop stars who had notable similarity with or majorly influenced by Madonna. When inducting Madonna into the
Some media outlets and authors have referred to her fandom, mainly young, female audiences as "Madonna wannabes".[12] According to Sean MacLeod, author of Leaders of the Pack (2015), Spice Girls's debut single "Wannabe" was coined from the fans of Madonna, who were dubbed "wannabes".[35]
See also
- Fashion of Madonna
- Madonna impersonator
- Madonna and religion; religious criticisms
References
- ^ a b Skow, John (May 27, 1985). "Madonna Rocks the Land". Time. p. 7. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
- ^ Voller 1999, p. 21
- ^ Hanra, Hanna (March 20, 2015). "Maripol: 'Did I discover Madonna? She discovered me!'". The Guardian. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
- ^ Yahoo. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
- ^ "Maripol Shot Madonna". Miss Rosen. August 13, 2009.
- ^ a b Cross 2007, p. 37
- ^ ISBN 978-1351559546. Retrieved April 7, 2022 – via Google Books.)
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ignored (help - ^ a b Brown 2004, p. 187
- ^ Edwards & Bhaumik 2008, p. 264
- ^ "A star with staying power". CNN. 2004. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
- ^ a b Currie 1999, p. 35
- ^ a b Mansour 2011, p. 296
- ^ a b Moore 2015, pp. 115–116
- ^ Brady, Susan (May 31, 1985). "Seeking Madonna's Double". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
- ^ Dickinson 2003, p. 187
- ^ "Return to Madonnaland". Boy Culture. February 22, 2010. Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
- ^ Dickinson 2003, p. 1987.
- ^ Guanlao, Nicocle (May 6, 2008). "Madonna's 1985 Look-Alike No Longer Rocks The Lace Gloves, But She's Still Madge's Biggest Fan". MTV News. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
- ^ Scaggs, Austin (October 29, 2009). "Madonna Looks Back: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ "The 80s: The Decade That Made Us". National Geographic. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
- ^ Giuntini & Hagen 2008, p. 299
- ^ Baca, Ricardo (November 5, 2008). "25 questionable things about Madonna". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
- ^ Burns 2016, p. 376
- ^ Klosterman 2007, p. 245
- ^ a b González 2009, p. 74
- ^ Gross, Michael (1985). "Madonna: Catholic Girl, Material Girl, Post-Liberation Woman". Official website of Michael Gross. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
- ^ Guilbert 2002, p. 168
- ^ Goshgarian 1993, p. 227
- ^ "Madonna". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. University of Colorado: 129. 2001. Retrieved April 7, 2022 – via Google Books.
- ^ Magill 1993, p. 2451
- ^ Cochrane 2016, p. 72
- ^ Soteriou, Stephanie (October 23, 2023). "Every Time Justin Timberlake Seemingly Shaded Britney Spears After Their 2002 Split". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
- ^ "Lady Gaga dismissed as 'Madonna wannabe' for 'Catholic bashing' music video". Catholic News Agency. June 12, 2010. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
- ^ Riemenschneider, Chris (November 2, 2012). "Lifting the Material Girl's material". Star Tribune. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- ^ MacLeod 2015, p. 148.
Bibliography
- Burns, Gary (2016). A Companion to Popular Culture. ISBN 978-1405192057.
- Brown, Stephen (2004). Free Gift Inside!!: Forget the Customer. Develop Marketease. ISBN 1841126020.
- ISBN 978-0-313-33811-3.
- Currie, Dawn (1999). Girl Talk: Adolescent Magazines and Their Readers. ISBN 0802082173.
- Dickinson, Kay (2003). Movie Music, the Film Reader. ISBN 0415281598.
- Edwards, Elizabeth; Bhaumik, Kaushik (2008). Visual Sense: A Cultural Reader. ISBN 978-1845207410.
- Giuntini, Parme P.; Hagen, Kathryn (2008). Garb: A Fashion and Culture Reader. ISBN 978-0131119109.
- ISBN 978-8432137280.
- ISBN 0673522229.
- ISBN 0-7864-1408-1.
- ISBN 141658952X.
- MacLeod, Sean (2015). Leaders of the Pack: Girl Groups of the 1960s and Their Influence on Popular Culture in Britain and America. ISBN 978-1442252028.
- Mansour, David (2011). From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century. ISBN 978-0740793073.
- Moore, Jennifer Grayer (2015). Fashion Fads Through American History: Fitting Clothes into Context: Fitting Clothes into Context. ISBN 978-1610699020.
Further reading
- Boisvert, Donald L.; Jay, Emerson Johnson (2012). Queer Religion, Volumen 1. ISBN 978-0313353581.
- ISBN 1860745121.
- Cochrane, Lauren (2016). Fifty Women's Fashion Icons that Changed the World: Design Museum Fifty. ISBN 978-1-840-91747-5.
- ISBN 0814727476.
- ISBN 0-893-56812-0.
- Olszewski, Mike (2003). Radio Daze: Stories from the Front in Cleveland's Fm Air Wars. ISBN 0873387732.
- Sellers, John (2007). Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life. ISBN 978-1416539124.
- Merrell, Floyd (2003). The Mexicans: A Sense Of Culture. ISBN 0813340446.
- Voller, Debbi (1999). Madonna: The Style Book. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-7511-6.