While most pop stars do have outfits unique to them, if there is one piece of clothing that has been consistently a part of everyone’s closet, it’s the cone bra.
The cone bra is a piece of undergarment defined by its pointy cup shape and decorated spiral stitching. Just like most of pop music’s greatest inventions, it all started with the queen of pop Madonna in 1990. She and fashion designer Jean-Paul Gautier collaborated to create the outfit that would be recreated by pretty much every pop star known to man.
In this article we’re going to discuss the history behind Madonna’s cone bra and understand how its legacy remains with the pop stars of this generation. Before we get into how Madonna’s iconic cone bra came to be, let’s get a bit of a refresher on her career up to that point.
During the 1980s, Madonna had a reign over pop music like no other. She was consistently churning out mega successful albums and pushing the boundaries of what could be said and shown in mainstream entertainment.
One of her biggest controversies thus far was the release of her lead single ‘Like a Prayer’ of her fourth studio album. The song was featured in a massive ad campaign for the company, Pepsi.
However, the day after the commercial was released, Madonna released the music video for ‘Like a Prayer’ which featured her dancing in front of burning crosses and kissing a black saint. The music video caused outrage amongst religious groups and the backlash got so bad that it led to a direct call from the Vatican to boycott Pepsi and its subsidiaries.
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Pepsi ended up pulling the commercial down and canceled their plans to sponsor Madonna’s upcoming tour. Despite this, due to the sheer popularity of Madonna, her record label greenlighted the tour and it was later named Blonde Ambition.
Early on in the creation of the Blonde Ambition tour, Madonna was contacted fashion designer Jean-Paul Gautier to design her clothes. For those of you who are unfamiliar with his work, Gautier was very much like the Madonna of fashion and he was known for his boundary breaking and unconventional designs.
Madonna had been a fan of his clothes for a while and actually wore one of his corsets to the premiere of her movie ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ as well as one of his tutus in a Harper’s Bazaar photo shoot. Madonna had fashion photographer and close friend Herb Ritz reach out to Gautier and he eventually got him on board.
Gautier described his time working with Madonna as one of intense stress, claiming he had to go through 35 aspirins and 1500 sketches before Madonna was satisfied with his designs. Gautier actually had experience making cone bras before ever working with Madonna.
He first debuted an exaggerated version of the cone bra in his Fall Winter 1994 collection. His inspiration came from the 40s and 50s as cone bras were a popular broad design amongst women. Famous actresses such as Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner and Jane Russell sported the bras under tight sweaters.
Madonna sporting the cone bra corset grabbed the public’s attention in a way that none of her outfits had before. She gave the look so much depth as the cone bra was typically associated with old-fashioned femininity.
But with Madonna’s muscular body, the look also exuded authority and power. Since Madonna’s initial debut with the bra in 1990, almost all the main pop girls of today have either recreated the look or completely reinvented it.
In 2008, Lady Gaga started the trend when she wore a bra that shot out fireworks. In 2010, Katy Perry followed it up with the bra that shot out whipped cream and in 2014, Ariana Grande reinvented the bra into a rocket launcher.
The list of artists could go on and on and it doesn’t look like the trend has any plans of slowing down as Doja Cat was recently seen with the cone bra for her photo shoot.
The cone bra that Madonna and Jean-Paul Gautier created will forever be iconic. It has become a part of pop culture and fashion history. Though Madonna doesn’t always get the credit she deserves, she has undeniably become the blueprint for so many pop stars we know and love.
