Fashion Victim: Material Girl is still Causing a Commotion

Aug 14 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

FORGET Georgia, forget house prices and stuff the Olympic Games. The really big story this week, if not this year, is the pending half- century of the most recognisable woman on the planet.

Yes, in case the news has passed you by (how is the weather on Saturn?) the Queen of Pop turns 50 years young on Saturday, and all anyone can talk about is how amazing she looks.

Incidentally, the King of Pop Michael Jackson also turns 50 this month, but no-one is praising his youthful visage.

Anyway, back to Madonna, and, love her or loathe her, there is no denying she has succeeded in holding back the hands of time like no other woman on this planet.

Then again, if time were ever to give up the ghost for anyone, you would imagine Madonna, left, would be the woman to convince it.

After all, this is the girl who ditched Detroit and turned up in New York with a few dollars in her pocket, some dancing talent and an uncanny knack for getting under people’s skin, to go on to become the most famous female star of all time.

If Madonna wants something, you imagine she usually gets it. So why should eternal youth be beyond her reach?

In recent weeks, pundits have worked themselves into a frenzy speculating exactly why it is Madge looks so good and speculating whether it could be down to a little more than a macrobiotic diet, hours of yoga and a gym habit that makes Schwarzenegger look like a slacker.

I have lost count of the number of articles I have read musing over whether she has gone under the knife, or got up close and personal with a bottle or two of Botox. All naturally appended with the phrase “while there’s no suggestion Madonna has had any cosmetic work”.

A piece in the latest issue of New York magazine discusses how Madonna’s face now represents the modern ideal of beauty, all full-sculpted cheeks, super-smooth forehead, tight jaw and plump lips. Although there is no suggestion Madonna has had any cosmetic work.

But it hasn’t all been smooth-going for the Material Girl. For every picture of Madonna looking like a timeless beauty, there have been at least two of her looking . . . how can we put this? Rough.

As a Madonna fan (while there is no suggestion she has had cosmetic work), I think the woman looks fantastic.

I don’t agree with everything she does and she – as she has admitted – has had as many fashion lows as she has had highs (the Erotica period and breasts out on the catwalk for Gaultier may have been a bit unnecessary).

For good or for ill, she has pushed the boundaries, defied convention and reinvented herself more times than the Conservative Party, and the world would be a duller place without her. And she shows no signs of slowing down.

As she says in her latest single: “When the lights go down and there’s no one left, I can go on and on and on.” Talk about a mission statement.

EMMA JOHNSON will be celebrating the superstar’s 50th with Madonna Weekend from Friday at http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/girlsbehavingstylishly