Madonna and her 13-year-old budding fashionista daughter Lourdes are to launch a new line in teen clothing called "Material Girl" in the US this August.

The mother-daughter collection, which will be exclusively available at Macy's stores, will focus on affordable back-to-school clothes but will include footwear, handbags and jewelry and aims to add a fragrance in 2011.

The line is a joint venture between Madonna and the Iconix Brand Group, which purchased the Badgley Mischka brand in 2004 and includes other leading labels such as Mossimo and Ed Hardy.

"The "Material Girl" collection was inspired and designed in collaboration with Madonna and her daughter Lourdes, along with Iconix Brand Group's in-house fashion department," a press release from Iconix said.

As part of the hook-up, Macy's will retain the right to launch additional brands with the MG (Material Girl) icon in the future.

"We are excited to announce the first in a series of new brands that will be developed under our partnership with Madonna," said Iconix CEO and chairman Neil Cole.

"'Material Girl' has a powerful retail partner in Macy's and we look forward to working together to deliver an innovative launch for our consumers."

Madonna is getting her fashion groove on with Iconix Brand Group Inc. to launch MG Icon LLC - a venture in which a series of fashion projects will be rolled out across the retail world, starting with a junior line called Material Girl.

"Joining forces with Iconix to bring my fashion ideas to consumers is very exciting for me," Madonna - who will own 50 per cent of MG Icon with her long time manager Guy Oseary - tells WWD. Iconix will own the remaining 50 per cent.

"Madonna has been building brands for her other companies for a long time. Now, it's time for her to build her own brand," says Neil Cole, chairman and chief executive officer of Iconix.

"I look forward to working closely with Neil and his team to create and translate my vision and ideas for MG Icon," adds Madonna of the new venture, which will see a range of fashion-related business projects, the creation of new brands and the acquisition of new labels come to fruition. MG Icon is reportedly close to announcing a collaboration with a designer label for a co-branded eyewear collection as well.

It must be nice to see all those early 1990s, Madonna-style boobs back in the world. How did they originally meet? “I was a fan,” he says. “She made her first concert in Paris in 1987 or 1988, and there was a party after. I was intimidé, but she was first to arrive, waiting for everybody. She was like this always for 10 years, always on time but now... boof, finished! She is the last one,” he laughs.

“Alors, she was super-cute, so I said to ’er, ‘I would love to do something super-special for you.’ She was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, okay.’ Then, two days before my show, I receive a phone call. They tell me it’s Madonna, but I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, okay, whatever.’ I don’t believe it’s possible. But the next day I ask if it’s true, and there is a number and I call and she answers and tells me to come to New York and we prepare for the tour.”
So began a working relationship they’ve dipped in and out of for 20 years. A friendship also developed, though I suspect Gaultier retains a fan’s fascination. “I went to a club with her and all the good-looking boys were looking, but not recognising her. She was so famous, they couldn’t imagine she would be there, so they were cruising her".

However, his most hilarious Madonna memory relates to her wedding to Guy Ritchie in 2000. “He wore a kilt with nothing under,” says Gaultier approvingly. How do you know? “I ask him, ‘It’s true?’ He say, ‘You see!’” he says, miming Ritchie whipping up his skirt. And was it...? “Well, I understood Madonna! Hahaha!” he cackles, then shouts in delight as a plate of fish and different pastel-coloured mashed potatoes is placed in front of him.

The party was underwritten by Moët & Chandon – the official champagne of the Oscars, a publicist helpfully reminded us – and guests were sipping from miniature bottles of the stuff.
Justin Timberlake was skulking near the bar, wearing geeky glasses and a ski cap. A female bodyguard was standing next to him. “Tom’s a very good friend of mine and I’m excited for him and it’s a great cause so I came,” Mr. Timberlake said. What was he doing Oscar night we asked? “I thought this was a sound bite for Tom,” Mr. Timberlake said, which was the cue for his bodyguard to shoo us away.

Click here to read more from this report posted on the NY Times' The Carpetbagger blog.

A few days ago we reported about the collection of Madonna images by photographer Richard Corman that was exhibited publicly for the first time in New York City at the "Virigin Spirit" event which also featured fashions by Prince Peter and music by Jessica 6 and Dan Wade.

News is now in that Corman just released nearly two dozen of these never-before-seen images he took over 25 years ago.
The photographs were taken in New York City between 1983 and 1985 and feature shots of Madonna's first New York apartment, her surrounding neighborhood on the Lower East Side and some images from the set of her 1985 movie, "Vision Quest".