Madonna Is Jesus And The Virgin Mary In Next Month’s Vanity Fair In Italy, Spain, And France
Yesterday Madonna announced that she was embarking on an international tour to celebrate four decades in the music biz. The Celebration World Tour doesn’t begin until July, so until then, we’re probably going to see a lot of Madge. Today kicks things off with the reveal of Madonna’s new Vanity Fair cover/photoshoot. Billboard reports that the 64-year-old will appear in next month’s “Icon Issue” for the magazine’s French, Spanish, and Italian editions. All predominantly Catholic countries! The perfect audience for some classic maybe-excommunicated Madonna envelope-pushing. On the cover, she is a weeping Virgin Mary. Inside, she is Jesus at an all-female last supper. I don’t remember JC or the OG Madonna having so many fillers, but suspend your disbelief!
In a preview, Vanity Fair says that the two-day shoot by photographers Luigi & Iango involved more than 80 collaborators and was meant to express “values Madonna has defended throughout her artistic path and iconography.” Madge was styled by B. Åkerlund, who dressed her in designs by John Galliano for Maison Margiela, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Jean Paul Gaultier. The shoot will eventually be spun off into an exhibition, short film, and “an urban art performance.”
Billboard adds that, in the interview for the piece, Madonna talked about feminism, sexuality, religion, and diversity. She discusses her “career-long battle” against the patriarchy and the price she’s paid for “sticking to her guns.” Is “sticking to her guns” code for “losing her goddamn mind on social media”? Madge also touched on the tour and her upcoming biopic:
“I’m about to create another show, and I’ve been working for several years on the screenplay about my life,” the singer told the magazine. “This is a good time for me — I’m gathering ideas, getting inspired, hanging out with creative people, watching films, seeing art, listening to music.”
Convicted anti-Semite John Galliano told Vanity Fair that Madonna has a “biblical dimension, a universal scope.” He said that the first time he saw her, “she was already inspired, fearless, with integrity and artistic pride.” The magazine’s editorial director, Simone Marchetti, conducted the interview with Madonna and said:
“Madonna accepted not only to be part of a fashion shoot but on an artistic project that is the representation of the values that she embodied in the last 40 years. Each image is like a reflection on Madonna’s extraordinary contribution to the culture of the last decades. Those pages are the milestones of a discussion, a progress and a commitment that does not stop here. A commitment that we strive to tell, explain and illustrate in every issue of Vanity Fair.”
Here’s the cover and photoshoot. It looks like Madonna also went the Frida Kahlo route for a couple pics. Click through to see them all:
If the Last Supper was all-female, history would’ve gone an entirely different way. The gals woulda hit the blood (wine) and ended the night dancing on top of the table, Coyote Ugly-stylez. Everyone woulda slept through the crucifixion the next day and gone for a late brunch. “Bloody Marys for the whole table! Lady-Judas says she’s paying!”
Pic: Vanity Fair