Material Gurrrl

BY Dusty Ramon

Madonna’s love affair with the gay community is something the material girl cultivated over her entire career. 

According to her, it started when her ballet teacher, a gay man, first told her she was beautiful and had something to offer the world. He encouraged her to walk away from a full scholarship to the University of Michigan and move to New york city to pursue a career as a professional dancer. In Manhattan, Madonna mingled with legendary gays like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

Record producer David Foster wrote in his 2008 autobiography how she scowled at him when he expressed his distaste at the sight of two men kissing. “Two men kissing should be looked at as normal!” Madonna apparently said to Foster. “You represent everything I’m trying to change.”

Now, that’s love. This month, Skot Video returns the love with a fashion line inspired by the material girl.

How has Madonna’s legacy fueled your ambition?
I grew up as Madonna was emerging as an artist, when the M in MTV stood for music, not mediocre. I would wait endlessly for the new video premiers. When they banned “Justify My Love,” she turned around and sold it as a video single. When they wanted to arrest her on tour in Toronto for the masturbation scene in “Like a Virgin,” she said, “I am not changing my show. I am an artist, and this is how I choose to express myself.” It’s that rebel heart and fighting spirit that I admire and have adopted in my own life.

That was on her “Blonde Ambition” tour. Did you see it live?
I saw that show twice in Dallas.   My parents were very religious and didn’t approve of my going, but I went anyway. It was like nothing I had ever seen before!  I remember as the lights went dark before the encore, she accidentally said, “Thank you, Houston!” The audience booed. She came back for “Keep It Together” and begged forgiveness, and of course we forgave her.

What is your favorite shirt in the collection?
The Cunty Madonna Shade tee. That’s how the entire collection was born. I made the shirt for the MDNA show in Hyde Park, London. I was dancing in the VIP area and was broadcast over the jumbo tron. As a result, I had orders before I left the show.

Do you have a specific goal with the line?
To see Madonna in one of my shirts! She doesn’t have to be on the cover of a magazine. She can be running from the paparazzi, dashing into a car or even just a selfie from her bathroom. It’s all the same to me. As a fan who has been there from the beginning, it would be major come to Jesus, full circle moment for me.

What shirt would you most like to see Madonna in?
The “Not A Monster” or “Lady Who?” shirt.

Cuntees are available at
whatsthetee.net