Born on 16 August: Madonna, Queen of Pop... and fashion

Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan in 1958 and today celebrates her 66th birthday.

Her musical career is now floating in everyone's memory, with songs such as "Like A Virgin", "Holiday", "Into The Groove", "Material Girl", "Papa Don't Preach", "La Isla Bonita", "Who's That Girl", "Like A Prayer" and "Justify My Love". But let's take a look at some of the lesser-known aspects of the Madonna sanctified by the charts.

Let's start by taking a look at 'Born To Be Alive', the mega worldwide disco hit (and the only one, in fact) by Frenchman Patrick Hernandez. Released on 17 November 1978, the song even topped the Billboard charts, in the dance category. Contrary to what urban legend has been saying for decades, Madonna never danced or sang with the French lover. They did, however, meet in New York back in 1980, during auditions to flesh out her show. "This young girl, who had a lot of talent and personality, wanted to do theatre, cinema or dance, but not sing", Hernandez recalls in the programme "Melody de ma vie".

Alongside her musical career, she also has an impressive filmography of some twenty feature films, of which "Desperately Seeking Susan" by Susan Seidelman (1985) remains fresh to this day.

At first, with her frills, ribbons in her hair, a certain penchant for pink and then a definite penchant for lingerie, Madonna looked more like Cindy Lauper's little sister than a fashion icon. But when she sets herself a goal, la Ciccone is never stingy with her time, and has a knack for knocking on the right doors and finding mentors who make a difference. In fashion as in music, after all. In 1990, for her 'Blond Ambition Tour', the French couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier, who was also a great fan of music, designed an astonishing bustier-corset which caused a scandal. He even invited the singer to star in his show at the Musée des Arts Forains in Paris for his spring-summer 1995 collection. She was pushing a pram with a (fake) baby in it!

Since then, Madonna has turned more and more to the big names in luxury fashion, such as Louis Vuitton (notably for the advertising campaign for the spring-summer 2009 collection), Dolce & Gabbana (for whom she even designed a collection of sunglasses in 2010) and, of course, her friend Donatella Versace (who again this year gave her the stage outfits for 'The Celebration Tour'). In 2007, Madonna also supervised M by Madonna, a limited series of affordable silhouettes for Swedish fast-fashion chain H&M.

So Madonna? Queen of pop? Fashion icon? Or simply both?

Photo: Madonna on stage at Bercy in Paris (France) on 4 July 1990 in a bustier designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier for her "Blond Ambition Tour" (© Etienne Tordoir)