Madonna’s team go Swedish for tour
From Vogue.com:
“It was true! Madonna is the latest big deal sign up for H&M. The Swedish high street retailer confirmed this morning that the world’s most famous female singer, her dance troupe, band and tour crew will be dressed in its 2006 collection every time they leave the stage.
While Madge herself has been dressed by Jean Paul Gaultier for her onstage performances of the Confessions tour, which began on May 21, even she’ll be in H&M during down time. “Partnering up with H&M feels like a perfect fit,” she said. “We’ll all get to express ourselves in our own individual way. The dancers and I are excited to go shopping together.”
The contract will also involve an ad campaign featuring Madonna with her dancers as well as a specially designed Madonna tracksuit that will go on sale in mid-August.”
• From Yahoo! Music:
Swedish company Hennes & Mauritz, Europe’s largest fashion retailer, said it has signed a deal with singer Madonna, under which H&M will supply a complete off-stage wardrobe for her entire entourage.
H&M said that off-stage, Madonna and the team – including the band, dancers and crew members – participating in the Confessions World Tour will be free to choose clothing from H&M’s 2006 collection.
Madonna has a long history of co-operating with Swedes, including music video director Jonas Akerlund and top music producer and song writer Anders Bagge.
• From Bloomberg.com:
Hennes & Mauritz AB, the owner of H&M discount clothes stores, will feature Grammy Award-winning singer Madonna in advertisements in an effort to capitalize on her popularity to help sell more fashions.
The ads, to include the singer’s team of dancers as well as Madonna herself, are part of a broader accord between the Stockholm-based company and the star, according to a Market Wire statement issued today. The retailer didn’t say when the advertisements will appear.
Chief Executive Officer Rolf Eriksen has signed up well- known designers such as Karl Lagerfeld to create collections aimed at drawing shoppers to H&M stores as lower prices for Chinese textiles lead to stiffer competition. The Swedish company last month hired Dutch designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoren, known as Viktor & Rolf, to design a collection.
Under the accord with Madonna, H&M will provide clothes to be worn offstage by the singer and her troupe during the Confessions tour, which opened May 21. Madonna will be dressed onstage by French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, the creator of the conical bra she wore during 1990’s Blond Ambition tour.
Madonna also will design a tracksuit for H&M that will be in stores in August.
H&M, which sells women’s tops for as little as 4.90 euros ($6.20), has an advertising policy that calls for using “healthy and wholesome” representatives, according to the company Web site.
The retailer has more than 1,200 stores in 22 countries and is adding outlets in Dubai and Kuwait this year under franchise agreements.
• From Women Wear Daily:
The Material Girl is giving her stamp of approval to cheap chic. Madonna and her dancers will wear Hennes & Mauritz off-stage for the remainder of her “Confessions” world tour, the Swedish fast-fashion giant announced on Thursday.
Additionally, the singer and her dance troupe are scheduled to appear in an H&M advertising campaign – to hit in August – trumpeting the association.
H&M has collaborated with Madonna on a tracksuit that will be available in H&M stores this August. The news confirms a Fashion Scoop in WWD on June 2.
The partnership is the latest of H&M’s high-profile associations to create buzz around its inexpensive but trendy creations. Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney both teamed up with H&M to create one-off fashion collections. And Amsterdam designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren have been asked to design a collection for H&M this fall.
For H&M, the latest tie-up with a pop icon seems to be the next step in its strategy to associate itself with high-fashion names. After all, Paris couturier Jean Paul Gaultier created the on-stage costumes for Madonna’s tour, which kicked off on May 21.
• From AFP/Yahoo! News:
US pop queen Madonna has been confirmed as the latest of a string of celebrities to model for Swedish low-cost fashion retailer Hennes and Mauritz.
“We are extremely proud that Madonna wants to be in partnership with H&M,” company spokeswoman Kristina Stenvinkel told AFP Thursday. “This campaign encapsulates H and M’s and Madonna’s expression of diversity and personal style,” Stenvinkel added.
Madonna is to pose for a poster campaign due to hit bill boards worldwide from August.
The company is to also clothe Madonna and 150 members of her crew in T-shirts, tops, hoods and jeans emblazened with “Madonna plus crew loves H&M“. These designs will be made available in H&M stores.
Madonna’s crew is also to be given free range to stock up on H&M products.
“Madonna and her crew will be able to select items from the H and M range at stores in London and New York,” Stenvinkel said.
Stenvinkel refused to reveal how much the campaign was worth.
Previous H&M models have included superstars Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Anna Nicole Smith.
• From Fashion Wire Daily:
Well, the fashion world can finally lay to rest those pesky “Madonna’s going to design a line for H&M” rumors that have been swirling around for the past few months.
It was announced on Thursday, June 8th that Madonna and the band, dancers and crew members on her “Confessions On A Dance Floor” world tour (known collectively as “Team Madonna“) will be sporting trendy togs from Swedish retail giant H&M‘s 2006 collection offstage – and that Madonna herself designed a track suit that will be available exclusively in H&M stores in mid- to late August.
While it’s unlikely that you’ll actually see the Material Girl browsing the racks at an H&M outlet herself, you will see her running between gigs outfitted in the Madonna track suit, the exact description and price of which won’t be unveiled until she begins appearing in ad campaigns trumpeting her design starting in August.
We are imagining the juicy “Confessions On A Tour Bus” tell-all Madonna’s track suit would write, if only it could.