The Material Girl’s parade of costume changes includes outfits from longtime collaborators Jean Paul Gaultier and Jeremy Scott, shoes from Prada and Miu Miu and pieces from Alexander Wang. Dolce & Gabbana made suits for the band and background vocalists, Fausto Puglisi created menacing bandolier vests and rams head masks for the backup dancers and even J Brand whipped up custom-made jeans.

Bras and panties — including one heart-shaped style from Madonna’s new intimates line Truth or Dare — are incorporated into some numbers, as are shoes from the new Truth or Dare footwear line, at retail this fall. A somber, elegiac version of the usually peppy “Like a Virgin” will be sung by Madonna in an Agent Provocateur bra.

“I love Madonna. She is the only woman I have asked to marry me. She refused, of course,” added Gaultier. “But when she asked me to do a costume for her for this tour, I couldn’t refuse.”

“This show is epic and bigger than anything she’s done before. There are many more costume changes. We’re taking 700 shoes on the road. Madonna changes outfits seven or eight times and the dancers change 10 to 15 times, depending on the dancer,” said Phillips of the production, which includes multiple appearances on stage by two of Madonna’s children, Lourdes and Rocco, in supporting roles.

As for the media dustup this week when Madonna supposedly lobbed a grenade at Lady Gaga by mashing up her own “Express Yourself” with Lady Gaga’s allegedly reductive “Born This Way” in rehearsals, it wasn’t just a ploy for attention and it’s part of the permanent show. At the end of the song, Madonna throws in the line “She’s Not Me,” from her recent song of the same name.

“Whether it’s an homage or a smack in the face or just being funny, I don’t know,” said Liz Rosenberg, Madonna’s spokeswoman. “People can decide what it means. Madonna isn’t one to explain herself.”



WWD.com