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Madonna · S5 E2
The Cone Bra
Jean Paul Gaultier, the tour concept, and how a single costume became a cultural symbol
Jean Paul Gaultier's atelier on Rue Saint-Martin, Paris, late 1989. Madonna points at a cone-shaped corset hanging on a mannequin and tells the designer she wants it on a stage in front of 70,000 people.
"Causing a Commotion" (1987). Three years before Gaultier transforms her visual identity, Madonna is making videos with budget costumes and borrowed wardrobes. Watch the styling, the hair, the production design, and then picture what she will look like on the Blond Ambition stage. The distance between this video and the cone bra is the distance between a pop star and a cultural institution.
The Corset
Gaultier has been putting cone-shaped brassieres on his runway models since the mid-1980s, but nobody outside the fashion world pays attention. Madonna sees the design in his Paris studio and immediately understands what the critics missed: the cone bra is not an eccentric experiment. It is a piece of armor.
TAP TO REVEAL: How many individual costume pieces did Gaultier create for the Blond Ambition Tour?
Causing a Commotion, Madonna (1987)
"Causing a Commotion" was written by Madonna and Stephen Bray for the Who's That Girl film, and it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The production is pure late-1980s synth-pop, all drum machines and sequenced keyboards. Listen for how the vocal sits on top of a relatively simple arrangement, because this is the last era where Madonna's image relies on the music rather than the staging. Within three years, Gaultier will make the visual as important as the sound.
Jean Paul Gaultier Atelier, Paris
The Marais district studio where Gaultier designs Madonna's Blond Ambition wardrobe through late 1989 and early 1990. The atelier produces everything from the pink satin cone bra to the pinstriped suits to the religious-themed corsets for the Catholic act. Every major pop tour since has been chasing the standard set in this room.
The Gaultier Partnership
Hanky Panky
From I'm Breathless (1990). A cheeky, playful track from the Dick Tracy soundtrack that reached number ten on the Hot 100. "Hanky Panky" captures the lighter side of the Blond Ambition era, the wink behind the provocation. On the tour, the Dick Tracy section was one of five theatrical acts, each with its own Gaultier-designed wardrobe. This song proves that underneath all the controversy, Madonna was still having fun.
Hanky Panky, Madonna (1990)
Read the lyrics while you listen. The song is deliberately silly and provocative at the same time, which is the entire philosophy of the Blond Ambition era distilled into three minutes. Madonna is daring you to be offended and entertained in the same breath.
Who designed the cone bra and costumes for Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour?
The costumes are ready, the dancers are rehearsed, and the stage is built. On April 13, 1990, the Blond Ambition World Tour opens in Japan, and nothing about live music will ever be the same.
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