A black bustier worn by Madonna in "Open Your Heart" video was stolen from Frederick's Of Hollywood's lingerie museum in Los Angeles.
May (6) Frederick's Of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA offers a $1,000 reward for the return of Madonna's bustier.
On April 29, 1992, a jury acĀquitĀted four LAPD ofĀficers of beatĀing Rodney King. The inĀcidĀent, which was caught on videoĀtape, sparked a naĀtionĀal deĀbate about poĀlice brutalĀity and raĀcial inequality (more than two decades before #BlackLivesMatter). The verdict stunned the city, and what followed was four smoldering days of rioting.
It feels frivolous to pivot from the riotsāāāwhich left 53 dead, 2,000 injured, 11,000 arrested and a billion dollars of damageāāāto Madonna. And it is. But yesterdayāāāthree weeks into my little L.A. adventureāāāI learned of Madonnaās connection to the riots, which is important in so far as it makes for interesting dinner party fodder.
In April 30th, 1992, the music world faced its greatest tragedy to date: the famed Frederickās of Hollywood was looted, and Madonnaās black bustier with gold tassels, worn in her video for āOpen Your Heart,ā was swiped from the celebrity Lingerie Museum. (By the way, āOpen Your Heartā is easily one of my top five favourite Madonna songs. A future post will be devoted to the single and its very bizarre video.)
Madonnaās original bustier was never returned (despite a $1,000 reward from Frederickās), but the Queen of Pop eventually gave the museum a replacement in exchange for a $10,000 donation to an organization that supplied free mammograms to the poor. (By the way, October happens to be National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is one of the highest-rated cancer organizations in the country. Read: donate if you can!)
In May 1992, the New York Times covered the Frederickās looting in an article called āAFTER THE RIOTS ; Confessions of a Star-Struck Looter.ā In it, a man identified as āJim B.āāāāa 24-year-old art student from the San Fernando Valley with seemingly no attachment to Rodney King and the subsequent movementāāāoffers a detailed recollection of the mayhem at Frederickās. ($200,000 worth of womenās undergarments were stolenāāā80 percent of the merchandise at the main storeāāāin addition to a handful of one-of-a-kind celebrity items from the museum: the bustier; a pair of Ava Gardnerās bloomers; and a push-up bra worn by the character Peg Bundy in Marriedā¦With Children. The store was not burned down.)
As Jim B. recounted to the Times, he knew what he wanted before he stepped foot into the store. āI was after Madonnaās negligee that she would wear live in concert,ā he told the newspaper. But it had already been taken. Twist! So Jim B. did what any petty panty thief would do: he settled for the bloomers and the push-up bra.
But waitā¦another twist: Jim B.ās conscience got the best of him. B. turned over the bloomers and bra to a local priest, Father Bob Fambrini at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood.
āI broke down,ā Jim B. told the Times. āI was in bad shape. It was a very emotional moment. I unzipped the bag full of loot, and I choked up and couldnāt even say anything.ā
Father Fambrini, probably very confused when Jimmy first approached him, eventually returned the items on behalf of the worldās worst criminal.
Had he made it to Frederickās sooner, would Mr. B. have given Madonnaās bustier to Father F? And would Father F. have understood the irony of that situation? (See: Madonna and Catholicism.)
I now leave you with the bustier in all its glory. The bustier as itās meant to be remembered. Rest in peace, gold tassels.
source: https://medium.com/one-month-of-madonna/october-4-the-stolen-bustier-50243ec5a17e#.boivo5jmg
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