About Madonna's Vogue, Setting and Costume

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How do you set up a setting for a music video? Imagine Madonna's Vogue. Imagine the setting, then imagine the world and its development! For any design setting, it's good to describe the setting and the concepts associated with that setting e.g. sophistication , elegance.. Aim to describe then the nature of the elegance and the sophistication.

The great feather fan rises and opens up the world of Vogue and the setting. And this is the world! Then quickly strike a pose. The world or setting of Madonna's Vogue is akin to the 20s world of Hollywood permeated with Art Deco influences. Remember the unique American Hollywood designs of the era e.g Cedric Gibbons' designs. In this world, strike a pose.

Cinematography is about creating a world and in Vogue poses are a part of that world. Vogue is a sophisticated mirror-reflected world of poses, of individuals posing. What kind of individuals? Maybe think of them as 'posers' , people who are striking a pose. It's all a game and the 'posers' must play their game of elegance and match each other in their poses.

Madonna's Vogue is about the pose of the body ; natural and artificial poses ; However Vogue was also a 20s dance upon which the video was based. The dance was also called Performance. Thus how to you translate the Performance dance into a setting, a cinematographic setting? How do you merge this into setting and costuming? These questions won't be answered here but in the design setting for a theatrical performance, they are important questions.

Thus Vogue or Performance is about natural poses and artificial poses too and the whole dance aims to minimise the distinction between natural and artificial poses. This is an important element in Performance. But sometimes the aim is actually to accent and emphasize the distinction.

Setting: A great feather fan rises to open up our world and our setting And this setting incorporates the development e.g. in the choreography from something formal to something less informal. This is also apparent in the costuming as well as of course the dance and its rhythm. There are more poses in the beginning and you might say that this is something natural. Posing is like a first step and grade in choreography. Poses are central to choreography and choreography in theatrical performance.

How do we materialize things in design, interior design, costume design? For example, in this video, you may want to materialize a certain 'concept' of eroticism as apparent in the 20s? How do you materialize the concepts of 'eroticism? You want to materialize this concept through a variation of the Performance dance. You can imagine these as stages in the design development. And there are the design elements too.

And what are the design elements of Madonna's Vogue? What are the elements of the setting? You can call the great feather boa or fan an element. The maid distorts in a way any sophistication and elegance that you might expect in the video. The maid also gives a glamor and eroticism to the sophisticated elegance associated with the 20s Hollywood world; This is another design element. There are also the men in tailored shirts, one with a low slouch hat ; the pillar, a man's scarf, the general evening wear. There is also the peroxide blonde hair of Madonna. There is also her attitude. There is attitude in the video. Attitude is another intangible element in a choreographed performance and this attitude is apparent in Vogue.

We have to take into account that the video has an 80s, early 90s feel but this is not so important. What is important is the mood that is created. Yes there is the 80s feel of the costuming especially apparent in the 'heavy and draggy' trousers in the final dance scenes. The jackets have their pads and there are other elements of 80s costuming as well as the wide shoulders such as the general 'power' look as well as the slightly cropped and flared trousers Madonna wears in one of the final scenes. woolen tailored costuming associated with the 80s. However there is still a timeless elegance about the video, the performance which is useful in doing any design project. The whole has a sophisticated glamor and elegance about it and within this world, we can choreograph the dance which is a variation of Performance or Vogue.

In Vogue, seduction has a sophistication about it. The video is a seduction and this is another intangible element. Using the elements available to it which are mainly its use of the Performance dance, the other aim of the choreographed performance in Madonna's Vogue is seduction. It aims to seduce. This world aims to seduce.