When Madonna's Like a Virgin came out in 1984, it wasn't just the songs that made a splash, it was her look. That crucifix jewelry! Those earrings! Those black rubber bracelets! The accessories that gave Madonna her stylistic edge and sparked millions of prepubescent copycats across the globe were the brainchild of Maripol, a designer and stylist who was working at the time as the art director of the Fiorucci store. "I was attracted by objects and I liked to use them by taking away their original meaning," Maripol has said. "I would see something I liked and I'd say, 'That would be great as an earring.'" An habitué of the same New York dance clubs as the singer, Maripol styled Madonna at the outset of the Material Girl's career, both casually and also officially, on the Like a Virgin album cover, ensuring the singer an eternal spot in the pantheon of pop style icons. "I was already making the rubber jewelry and I was already making the crosses because of my love for the punks," she said. "So it was perfect for her." Now Maripol, who has just launched a new line of colorful, affordable accessories for Marc Jacobs, opens up her scrapbooks of drawings, designs, photography and writing to create a book that captures her personality as an artist, beginning with her childhood and her arrival in New York as a 19-year-old art school student. Maripol moved to New York from France in 1976, where she became a part of the New York clubbing and music scene, styling Madonna and working on films such as Downtown 81 (starring Jean-Michel Basquiat and Deborah Harry). In the mid-1980s, she opened her own boutique, Maripolitan, in the NoHo area of New York. Maripol has also been art director on music videos for Cher, D'Angelo and Elton John, among others.
Featured image is a Polaroid by 80’s fashion diva Maripol of her friends; (from left) actress Debi Mazar, artist Keith Haring, fashion designer Jacqueline Schnabel (first wife of Julian Schnabel), and Tereza Scharf (artist Kenny Scharf's wife) partying in the 80’s.
Maripol’s recent monograph, Maripol: Little Red Riding Hood, features hundreds of nearly-lost gems like this one.
STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely.
FROM THE BOOK
"We grew up in a world where it was ok to exchange ideas with other people, and it wasn’t so rigid, and it's like what you said about the new wave and punk movement, it was much more raw and tougher and it was about a bunch of people who had something to say. It wasn't so boxed in and so pre-fabricated. It was something very organic and cool and very hard, you know, which is great."
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 11.5 in. / 240 pgs / 350 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $60.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $79 ISBN: 9788862081368 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 9/30/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Damiani. Conversation with Marc Jacobs. Text by Maripol.
When Madonna's Like a Virgin came out in 1984, it wasn't just the songs that made a splash, it was her look. That crucifix jewelry! Those earrings! Those black rubber bracelets! The accessories that gave Madonna her stylistic edge and sparked millions of prepubescent copycats across the globe were the brainchild of Maripol, a designer and stylist who was working at the time as the art director of the Fiorucci store. "I was attracted by objects and I liked to use them by taking away their original meaning," Maripol has said. "I would see something I liked and I'd say, 'That would be great as an earring.'" An habitué of the same New York dance clubs as the singer, Maripol styled Madonna at the outset of the Material Girl's career, both casually and also officially, on the Like a Virgin album cover, ensuring the singer an eternal spot in the pantheon of pop style icons. "I was already making the rubber jewelry and I was already making the crosses because of my love for the punks," she said. "So it was perfect for her." Now Maripol, who has just launched a new line of colorful, affordable accessories for Marc Jacobs, opens up her scrapbooks of drawings, designs, photography and writing to create a book that captures her personality as an artist, beginning with her childhood and her arrival in New York as a 19-year-old art school student.
Maripol moved to New York from France in 1976, where she became a part of the New York clubbing and music scene, styling Madonna and working on films such as Downtown 81 (starring Jean-Michel Basquiat and Deborah Harry). In the mid-1980s, she opened her own boutique, Maripolitan, in the NoHo area of New York. Maripol has also been art director on music videos for Cher, D'Angelo and Elton John, among others.
