page_title: Cultural impact of Madonna
section_title: Fashion
hierarchical_section_title: Cultural impact of Madonna / Madonna as an icon / Fashion
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the iconic corset made by fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier that Madonna wore during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour.
context_page_description: Since the beginning of her career in the early 1980s, American singer and songwriter Madonna has had a social-cultural impact on the world through her recordings, attitude, clothing and lifestyle. Called the "Queen of Pop", Madonna is labeled by international authors as the greatest woman in music, as well as the most influential and iconic female recording artist of all time.
  A global cultural icon, Madonna has built a legacy that goes beyond music and has been studied by sociologists, historians and other social scientists. Her impact is often compared with that of the Beatles and Elvis Presley; they are the best selling acts of all time in the general, solo male and female category respectively. Madonna is a key figure in popular music; critics have retrospectively credited her presence, success and contributions with paving the way for every female artist and changing forever the music scene for women in the music history, as well as for today's pop stars. Even reviews of her work have served as a roadmap for scrutinizing women at each stage in their music career.
context_section_description: Time included her as one of the Top 100 Icons of all time in fashion, style and design. Critics praised Madonna's style during her career, which became the defining look in the 80s. This gave rise to the term of Madonna wannabe. To experts in the 1990s, her use of fashion was even more eclectic.
  Journalist Michael Pye felt that "the face that launched a thousand fashions. To a large extent Madonna not only makes fashion, she is fashion. Editor of Vogue magazine Anna Wintour declared:
  She's a perfect example of how popular culture and street style now influence the world of fashion. Over the years, Madonna has been one of the most potent style setters of our time. She, just as much as Karl Lagerfeld, makes fashion happen.
  Professors in Oh Fashion (1994) book wrote that "the Madonna phenomenon suggests that in a postmodern image culture identity is constructed through image and fashion, involving one's look, pose, and attitude. Fashion and identity for Madonna are inseparable from her aesthetic practices, from her cultivation of her image in her music videos, films, TV appearances, concerts, and other cultural interventions". Billboard declared that "no pop diva has reinvented her fashion image with the consistency and creativity of Madonna... she evolved into a fashion-forward icon whose sense of style became as influential as her chart-topping tunes". Similarly, editor of The Huffington Post Dana Oliver comments why Madonna is the ultimate style chameleon and added that "no one has transformed herself like Madonna. She has had about as many looks as she has records. Her ability to constantly reinvent herself and her music has helped to secure her status as an icon, and she has influenced a generation of copycats. In short, no one has had more diverse looks than Madonna".
  Chloe Wyma from Louise Blouin Media commented that Madonna's chameleon attitude in transforming her fashion has become a universally recognized fact. Ana Laglere from Batanga Media expressed that "each new Madonna's style is a trend and is used by major designers as inspiration, flooding our world with innovative ideas".
  Cynthia Robins from San Francisco Chronicle said that "when Madonna came along, all fashion hell broke loose. Thus far, her influence on fashion  —high, low and otherwise— has transmogrified from 'Who's That Girl?' to what in the world will Madonna wear next?". Alessandra Codinha from Vogue named as "the master of reinvention".
caption: Iconic corset made by fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier that Madonna wore during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour.
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