Seriously vintage
When you think of Madonna, it's probably hard to remember a time when she wasn't the icon we've all grown to know. But, back in the early 1980s, she was simply a twentysomething getting by in New York, having moved from her hometown of Detroit, trying to find her place in the music industry and get her foot in the door.
Boasting 66 unpublished polaroid images of Madonna, all shot on Friday 17th June 1983, a new limited edition book aptly titled Madonna 66 is out now and shows a new side of Madonna, basically before she was 'Madonna'.
That year, a 24-year-old Madonna was cast to star in a modern day movie of Cinderella by Cis Corman, a well-known and established casting director and producer, who happened to have a photographer son.
Upon meeting Madonna, Cis immediately got in touch with her son, Richard, to tell him he had to drop everything and photograph this unknown actress/singer who was about to take the lead in the New York City fable, Cinde Rella, that she was casting. Cis instantly saw something in Madonna that told her this woman was going to be a superstar.
And, although the satirical Cinde Rella never actually came to be, Richard spent the day photographing Madonna in five different set ups inside her brother's house in Manhattan as test shots for the film. It's no surprise that Madonna insisted on doing her own styling, complete with vintage bohemian clothes, and make-up (think 'brash red lips') and it was her charisma, as well as her beauty, that told the industry pair that this woman was indeed something special.
For over thirty years, photographer Richard Corman, who has shot everyone from Nelson Mendela to Tilda Swinton, thought he had lost the polaroids, only to find them in a recent apartment move in New York, cue, this book and the amazing never-before-seen images of Madonna... Enjoy.
Limited Edition 500 copies of Madonna 66 by Richard Corman are available for £100, madonna66.com
