An In-Depht Look At The Rebel Heart Tour Costumes
Madonna launched her highly anticipated Rebel Heart Tour with two amazing concerts at the Bell Centre in Montreal, with Diplo opening the show and a set list spanning all decades of her career, including songs from her current album Rebel Heart, classic fan favorites like Material Girl and Holiday, a Dress You Up medley that included Into The Groove, Everybody, and Lucky Star. Fan-created artwork was featured in a video montage shown during Madonna’s performance of the song Rebel Heart, and her rendition of La Vie En Rose played on just a ukulele received and overwhelming standing ovation from the audience.
The Rebel Heart Tour is directed by Jamie King with musical direction by Kevin Antunes.
Madonna’s band includes keyboardist Ric’key Pageot, drummer Brian Frasier-Moore, guitarist Monte Pittman, and background vocalists Kiley Dean and Nicki Richards. Lead choreography is curated by Megan Lawson, hair by Andy LeCompte, makeup by Aaron Henrikson.
Beloved for her boundary-pushing fashion, Madonna has worked with both world-renowned designers and exciting up-and-comers over the years. For the Rebel Heart Tour, she and costume designer Arianne Phillips, whose original creations are also in the show, collaborated with Alessandro Michele for Gucci, Alexander Wang, Fausto Puglisi, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Nicolas Jebran, Miu Miu, Prada and Swarovski to create the sumptuous costumes.
Here are details from each designer.
Alessandro Michele for Gucci
Madonna wears an exotic gypsy outfit comprising a lurex-lace-and-jacquard bodysuit with an embroidered belt, lace short sleeves, and multi-colored trimmings, plus a black crêpe de Chine skirt with embroidered patches and black georgette ruffles. She also wears a black crêpe de Chine and georgette shawl with embroidered patches and silk fringes, lace gloves with pleated jacquard ruffles. To cap it off, she wears high-heeled knee-high lace-up leather boots and a black hat adorned with silk flowers. Her dancers complement her in patchwork bodysuits with a mix of ruffles and multicolored trimmings and embroidered belts. These are then teamed with multicolored floral headpieces; pleated jacquard neckpieces; lurex shrugs (featuring pleated ruffles on the sleeves and multicolored silk flowers); brocade jackets sporting silk flowers, embroidered patches, and lace pleated ruffles at the bottoms of the sleeves; and lace “Tehuana” inspired capes with multicolored silk flowers.
Alexander Wang
Madonna wears a long-sleeve mini-dress made from black sport basketball mesh in an accordion pleat technique, derived from Wang’s Spring 2015 collection.
Fausto Puglisi
Puglisi has made three costumes for Madonna. The first is a Baroque cape made in velvet, silk, Swarovski crystals, and black leather over purple silk satin. The embellishments are all handmade in Italy by Sicilian artisans and took over 400 hours to complete. The second is a purple, black, and silver velvet cape with Swarovski crystal embellishment over a shining black silk satin. It took 320 hours to embroider. The inspiration comes from Puglisi’s love for Cecil Beaton. The third is the Matador ensemble, which celebrates Madonna as a Queen and a Fighter. Each Swarovski crystal is embroidered over meticulous and intricate baroque Spanish embellishments handmade with black velvet and leather on black silk duchesse. It took 230 hours of embroidery to complete the suit.
Jeremy Scott for Moschino
Madonna wears a black double-breasted peak lapel blazer with jet Swarovski crystals and a crystal encrusted black tulle flapper dress. The jeweled motif is created with thousands of Swarovski stones and crystal-studded organza ribbon fringe. She also wears black crystal fringed opera gloves.
Miu Miu
Miu Miu shoes, which have been designed for Madonna and her dancers, are inspired by different themes and linked to the needs of the show. The Futuristic/Tribal look is sexy shoes defined by metal patch uppers and completed by studs and Swarovski crystals for an aggressive touch. The Punk Rock look is wedges with a micro porous surface and bicolor suede uppers embellished by studs. They are inspired by “Creepers” with the addition of a signature Miu Miu jewel-toe cup. The Sexy look is nappa stretch boots with laces and buckles and pumps with ABS heels in contrasting colors and satin uppers embroidered with Swarovski crystals. The overall look is aggressive, sexy, and modern.
Nicolas Jebran
Madonna wears a black, fuchsia, and purple jacket studded with a mixture of Swarovski stones, colorful silk threads, and leather embroideries. The edges of the shoulders design are decorated with round black beads, and the pant is made from black tulle with transparent, beaded side panels. She also wears a bolero with shoulders decorated with the royal Lily flowers and black and fuchsia Swarovski crystals. Finally, the black jacket features metallic embellishments mixed with black Swarovski crystals and tear-shaped pearls. The back is adorned with the Latin letter M, which symbolizes the character of The Queen M (as Jebran calls Madonna).
Prada
A mix of check patterns in different sizes and colors define the outerwear, which is marked by a silhouette enhancing the waist and by exaggerated shoulders recalling the ’40s. Coats and jackets are made of a checkered gabardine techno fabric embellished by inserts in contrasting leather with velvet details on the back of the collars and of the flaps. Crystal embroideries and studs accentuate the vertical cut of the clothes. The look is completed by shirts in various models featuring a combination of checks and stripes as well as ruffles and contrasting pipings. The shirts are worn over black trousers that make the silhouette even more appealing.
Swarovski
Rebel Heart marks the fourth time Swarovski has worked with Madonna’s costume design team on one of her tours. For this tour, over 350 items have been crystallized from clothing, to shoes, to hats, to masks, guitar straps, gloves, and various other garments. Over 2.5 million Swarovski crystals were used for the “Rebel Heart” Tour costumes and it took over 1,200 man hours to apply all the crystals to the costumes.
Accessories designers include Lilly e Violetta, Zana Bayne, Lynn Ban, Majesty Black, Julia Clancey, Rachel Freire, Cinza Aria, Gaspar Gloves, Geoffrey Mac, and Michael Schmidt.
The Rebel Heart Tour will visit 20 cities in North America and 16 cities in Europe and the UK through the end of 2015 with additional concert dates in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia already confirmed for 2016. The Rebel Heart World Tour is produced by Live Nation Global Touring. A full list of tour dates and ticket information is below and can also be found at madonna.com.
