by Will Iredale and John Elliott -
MADONNA, who pioneered the pointy bra on stage, has called in lawyers over a range of skimpy bras and briefs adorned with her name and face.
As she convalesces at home this weekend after falling from a horse on her Wiltshire estate, they are gathering evidence for possible legal action.
The lingerie range, Madonna Nude 1979, will be launched in Britain in November by Figleaves.com, an internet lingerie retailer.
It has been created by Rosanna Ansaloni, a Milan designer, and according to the UK retailers, is based on naked pictures of Madonna taken by Martin Schreiber, an American photographer, in 1979.
Diana Whitehead, communications manager at Figleaves.com, said that although the design was called Nude 1979, it had been adapted to reflect the singer’s 1980s look.
“This lingerie is misleading the public because Madonna is in no way affiliated with it,” said Liz Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for Madonna in New York. “Her attorneys are starting to gather information now because a line of lingerie is implying that Madonna is associated with it, and that could not be further from the truth.”
This is not the first time Madonna has tried to crack down on use of the Schreiber pictures. In 2001, her lawyers unsuccessfully attempted to stop Adam Glickman, an American condom salesman, from producing a range of contraceptives using the same images. Last week, Glickman said he had sold “hundreds of thousands” of the condoms since his clash with the singer, but would be discontinuing the line next month because of falling demand.
The underwear, which will be made by Pielle — an Italian lingerie manufacturer, features transparent pants decorated with tickly ribbons and crystals. Items included in the range, which have names such as Love Healing and Sensuality, also include what figleaves.com calls “a super sexy shiny satin baby doll with detachable garter belt”.
T-shirts are printed with a motif of Madonna’s face and a crucifix necklace on the front and back. The knickers are embellished with the rock star’s initial in crystals.
The range for men includes black lace Y-fronts and “micro-fibre” briefs bearing Madonna’s name. Prices for women’s items are £70 for a bra and £30 for knickers. Pants in the men’s collection will cost £40.
Whitehead added: “The range is really high end — it’s not something that has been produced quite cheaply with a logo slapped on it. The quality of the fabric is beautiful — there is a whole design ethos that has been put into it.
“We are aiming for women who want an aspirational take on underwear. They love celebrity, they love the link with the underwear and it is a way of buying into that person’s lifestyle.”
Neither Ansaloni nor Pielle could be reached for comment this weekend.
A number of female stars, including Kylie Minogue, Elizabeth Hurley and Elle Macpherson, have launched lucrative underwear ranges but Madonna, long known for her keen business sense, will not receive a penny from the range bearing her name.
She was an unknown dancer when the nude photos were taken. She was paid $30 (£16.70) for the three-hour photo session with Schreiber and she signed over the rights to the photos, a decision she has come to regret.
The underwear uses the images to hark back to a stage in Madonna’s career when she was happy to flaunt herself.
She wore conical bras over her clothes on stage, simulated masturbation while singing and writhed around with scantily clad male dancers.
Three decades later and with a fortune of about £235m, she has put the raunchiness behind her and nurtured her new persona as a jodhpur-wearing English country lady.
In the August edition of American Vogue she was photographed tending chickens on an immaculate lawn and relaxing in front of a collection of pony club rosettes.
Her love for her new life was tested last Tuesday when she fell from her horse while riding with a groom through the 1,200 acres surrounding Ashcombe House near Tollard Royal, Wiltshire, where she lives with her British husband, Guy Ritchie.
The mare was a present from Ritchie for her 47th birthday, the day she fell off. She was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken collarbone.
Source: Times Online
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