steven klein

The first product offering to be released from Madonna's newly inked deal with Iconix Brand Group is an eyewear collection designed with Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The collection of six sunglass styles bears an MDG logo — the M standing out and filled with tiny stars.

This is the first co-branded collaboration for Dolce & Gabbana. “We’re so excited. This further strengthens our relationship with Madonna, and it was a very constructive experience for us,” said Stefano Gabbana in an interview with WWD. “[Madonna] is very exacting and a professional who seeks perfection in everything she does, and this was no exception.” According to the article, Dolce & Gabbana sent Madonna over 50 sketches, which she then edited down to six, while altering designs to her liking.

Steven Klein used stills taken from a video shoot for the ad campaign, which features close-ups of Madonna playing a film noir version of herself along with model Tyson Ballou. The campaign breaks in May magazines, and the lineup of sunnies will retail for around $250. Styles include retro black plastic shades, gold and silver metal frames, and wrap-around goggles.

Madonna's next fashion item launch will be the Material Girl juniors' line available at Macy's this August.

Click below for more images of the Madonna for Dolce & Gabbana sunglass collection.

>> Today, Alexander McQueen was laid to rest in London during a private funeral service encompassing close friends and family only, according to a spokeswoman — Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Steven Klein, Daphne Guinness, Edward Enninful, and Stella McCartney were among the approximately 100 mourners.

The congregation spent around an hour inside St. Paul's Church in Knightsbridge, west London, before the coffin, laden with pink, white and red roses, was carried out by four pallbearers and loaded into a waiting hearse with "Lee" in white flowers on the back. The hearse drove off, followed by two black stretch Jaguars carrying McQueen's family. One mourner said of the funeral: "It was a lovely service."

A memorial service open to friends and supporters will take place later this year, although no date or venue has been confirmed, she told WWD. “We are focusing right now on the Paris show," she noted, which will be by invitation in a "private salon" format on March 9 and 10 at an undisclosed location.
*image: INFDaily.com, Flynet

>> This week's Vanity Fair Italia has a peek at Madonna's ad campaign for Dolce & Gabbana's Sicilian-inspired Spring 2010 collection. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, longtime fans of the singer who said at the time of the Italian cinama-influenced shoot last month — “to have Madonna in our campaign is a dream come true” — told the magazine of their choice: "She loved the collection . . . She is passionate and impressively knowledgeable about Italian cinema."

Steven Klein captured Madonna in New York washing dishes, eating spaghetti; Vanity Fair Italia prompted Gabbana about the pictures, asking if Madonna knew how to wash dishes — "Certainly . . . she's a very practical woman" — and whether she actually eats spaghetti — "Of course, and she can allow herself to with all the exercise she does!"

>> Steven Meisel seems to have temporarily moved on from his usual just-signed-model cover fare for Vogue Italia to women with a little more life experience — 42-year-old Kristen McMenamy was on the cover and heavily featured in the July 2009 issue, and now, for the August 2009, it's all about 44-year-old Linda Evangelista, whose image is juxtaposed on the cover with the phrase "refined style."  

We've only got clues — no names — about who will be the September multiple cover stars — but the tradition will be carried on in that issue by 41-year-old Daphne Guinness, who was photographed by Steven Klein in July for a 20-plus-page editorial based on a 60's cult French film that she promises will be "darker and moodier. A new side of me.” 

>> Models are making some scores stateside with the August 2009 issues — Steven Klein shot Lara Stone as Brigitte Bardot for W and Christy Turlington is headlining Vogue's Age Issue, shot by Annie Leibovitz.  But if raw is what you're looking for, Greg Lotus shot Bianca Balti for the June/July 2009 cover of French Playboy — the magazine that has featured Anouck Lepere, Lily Cole, and been photographed by Karl Lagerfeld and Terry Richardson in the past — with little to cover up in, save a bikini bottom and a stretch of net.

Gallery is NSFW.