Exclusive: The Story Behind The Costumes For Madonna’s Ghosttown Video

Madonna is continuing her commitment to the cape, as her video for Ghosttown has landed where she navigates an apocalyptic world in a fabulous emerald green cape.

Chrome Hearts worked with Madonna on her rock n’ roll look, creating a custom double-breasted floor-length leather jacket and a corset with sterling silver buttons and detailing. We caught up with co-owner of Chrome Hearts, Laurie Lynn Stark, to find out more about what it was like to work with Madonna…

Grazia Daily: What is the process like when designing outfits for a video?

Laurie: “I LOVE projects like this! Opportunities like this, when we get to really take our creativity to the extreme, is cherished time for us. We get approached for projects like this often but our factory and our team are always so busy that it takes something truly special to make it worth stepping on the brakes and putting all the focus on the project. In this case, the opportunity to work with Madonna’s team and with B Akerlund, was one of those time where it all made sense and we knew the results would be powerful. For Ghosttown, we had about a week’s notice and met with B at our factory (after a few preliminary phone calls while we were traveling for fashion weeks). She had a concept in mind and we just started pulling leathers, coming up with jacket structures, finding the right finishes – sterling silver buttons and cross patches etc. The easy part was that we all saw the same vision immediately, so the challenge was how to bring it to life in the most dramatic and beautiful way.”

Grazia Daily: What was it like working with Madonna? Have you ever worked with her before?

Laurie: “We’ve worked with Madonna for fashion editorial spreads. She’s been a customer and supporter for many years. We’ve done small custom pieces for her here and there but for this we’ve reached a new level. This was couture.”

Grazia Daily: How long did it take to create the custom pieces?

Laurie: “Once we had the idea and materials locked in, it took about a week and 30 people working on it to finish the construction. For the last 2 days, we worked around the clock.”

Grazia Daily: What was the idea behind the look?

Laurie: “B came to us with this Apocalyptic meets Rock & Roll with a bit of a “ship wrecked” mood so we took that and ran.”

Grazia Daily: How involved was Madonna in the creation of the pieces?

Laurie: “Her and B had been working together for a while on this album so I know that Madonna was all about the shape and silhouettes of this look.”

(@Graziadaily.co.uk by Emma Spedding)

Credit: madonnaunderground