THE FASHION IN MADONNA’S ‘CONFESSIONS II’ WAS A DISCO CLUBKID FANTASY

words by ANOUK WOUDT

The Queen of Pop is back, baby! Opening onto a montage of a sexy cyber camera crew and Madonna whisper-monologuing in true Confessions On a Dancefloor fashion, the original pop diva is reclaiming her rightful place at the centre of pop culture with her new short film, Confessions II. Bringing together characters that span in and outside of the Madonna universe, everyone is decked out in full Dolce & Gabbana, with looks that each carry a piece of her past eras with her, from Blonde Ambition to the iconic Ray of Light. Lace, leather, corsets, even PVC—each look ties perfectly into the egregious disco club-girl fantasy that serves as the film’s backdrop, completed with a perfect touch of dirty bathroom makeouts and sweaty dancefloors.

image courtesy of DOLCE&GABBANA

if you consider the long-term relationship she has shared with the Italian house, the full D&G wardrobe choice comes as no surprise. Starting all the way in 1993, when the label designed more than 1,500 costumes for her and her dancers in the Girlie Show world tour, the two have since been linked, with many even crediting Madonna for the brand’s mass spike in popularity in the early 2000s. Their relationship remains as strong as ever, with D&G paying a full-throttle pop homage to Madonna through their SS25 runway show, transforming each model into a variation of her ‘90s self through wigs that imitate her iconic short, curled coiffure that defined the Blonde Ambition era. She also recently appeared in their The One perfume campaign this past January, making this pairing the obvious choice for her revival video as we await the Confessions II album.

images via PINTEREST

Drawing us into the world of Confessions II, the 13-minute film begins in an empty apartment, where Madonna sits and swivels on a chair in the centre of the room, as the intro to I Feel Free lures us in. Breaking through the door, a horde of gartered camera-wielding girls soon break her solitude, swarming her in bright flashlights and cameras. Standing up, she reveals her satin-laced slip, tightly corseted with cuffed blue leather gloves and patent leather stilettos. The scene is immediately set, giving us a taste of the unabashed partygirl hedonism that is to come. 

image courtesy of DOLCE&GABBANA

Glitching to the next setting, she’s teleported to a foggy marsh, lit by the lights of people in tattered, strappy underwear, shooting out crotch lasers until she’s trapped in what looks like a high-stakes disco wasteland. This look fits dark plastic-like material that appears almost like patent leather into a corseted shape, with thigh-high boots and a mini fur shrug. 

image via CONFESSIONS II

Flashing into a car that crashes in front of a club, we take Madonna’s POV, panting and swerving through the crowded dance floor. Flipping her hair, she transforms into Julia Garner, who is confirmed to be playing her in the upcoming Madonna biopic, whose date is still undetermined. Wearing a cone bra, she pays homage to Jean Paul Gaultier’s original Blonde Ambition tour look, which has become an iconic moment of pop history at this point.

image via CONFESSIONS II, image via PINTEREST

Joined by Sabrina Carpenter for a performance of their collab single, Bring Your Love, Madonna changes into a rhinestone-encrusted bodice from the D&G FW91 collection, paired with high-waisted jacquard-and-satin shaper panties. Carpenter, on the other hand, saunters and crawls through the crowd in a black lace get-up, before they collide on the stage.

The main event is the club bathroom, which closely mirrors a real-life scenario. Surrounded by faces across the industry—Arca, Odessa A’zion, Benedict Cumberbatch, Honey Dijon, Gwendolyn Christie, Debi Mazar, Kate Moss! — this next look (and scene, entirely) is definitely the star of the short.  ⁠Evoking the imagery of her Ray of Light album cover, Madonna wears a body-skimming dress in stretch satin bonded with PVC, which takes its inspiration from a silhouette from the Dolce&Gabbana Spring/Summer 1998 collection. Her half-up do with big Hollywood curls, paired with gogo boots, all feel very similar to the Sabrina Carpenter aesthetic, passing a symbolic torch to her unofficial-but-kinda-official Pop descendant.

image via DOLCE&GABBANA

Turning the bathroom into a choreographed vogueing session, as an ode to her gay mother-dom, we are swept into the next scene, which looks like it takes place inside the new album cover. The look she wears mimics her Confessions II getup, but in a bolder cherry red variation paired with a peachy satin bra. Closing off the dance sequence, we get a look at the after-hours of the camera girls that we were introduced to at the beginning, who lie around rewatching footage in strappy lingerie and zipped hoods, topped with masks that serve sexy RoboCop fantasy. One of them is revealed as Lourdes Leon, the star’s daughter, who aptly finishes off the short with the final words: “Cut, b*tch.”