You’d think that the image-obsessed Madonna would take pains not to flash her conspicuous consumption while adopting a second Malawi infant. Especially after the controversy she courted the last time, what with the bribes and so forth.
But you’d think wrong.
The Material Girl arrived in Malawi via private jet on Sunday morning, then toured the impoverished African nation in a Chanel tracksuit that retails for $2,800. HuffPo has the sartorial details:
After arriving she toured an impoverished school but refused to talk to reporters. She was, in the words of the AP, “dressed casually” in a black velour tracksuit and white fedora. But that casual look costs about $2,800.
A look at the photos shows her dressed-down attire is a Chanel tracksuit, tone-on-tone labels blazing from her shoulder and the stripes down her leg. Huffington Post placed a call to the 57th Street store in New York Monday with a casual inquiry, and a helpful saleswoman priced a similar ensemble at $2,800.
A zip front jacket is $1,600 and the pants about $1,200. A cheaper alternative to the one Madonna wore in Malawi is the $1,200 pullover jacket.
Now obvs she can afford it. And as someone who’s a bit label-obsessed myself, I can’t fault her for wanting the best.
But seriously? She can’t have forgotten the hullabaloo when she adopted David, as she worked hard to protect her brand against that criticism. Still, wearing a jacket that says CHANEL on the sleeves is hardly discreet. Because nothing refutes the “white colonialist purchasing a native infant as an accessory” stereotype like Chanel and a PJ.
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I can’t fault her for wearing expensive stuff, and do think that the Chanel tracksuit is far more tasteful than the cammo pants and boots she had on in other pictures that might send a scary message one could tie in with colonialism. However, she obviously doesn’t learn, does she? She could have done this a lot more discreetly. I think the kid she adopts will be better off than they are now (if she gets to at all), but yeah, she’s been tacky about it.
I just imagine her in the orphanage, all Veruca Salt (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for all you whippersnappers), in her faux British accent, “But I want a baby accessory. I want a baby accessory now! Get it for me now or I will scream!”
I can’t believe she didn’t get farther in the brackets.
My 67 year old, completly bald, half deaf father has a velour track set just like Maddy’s.
He calls it his fartin’ around suit. You can tell it’s Saturday if he’s wearing it.
If you ask, really loudly in his left ear, he’ll proudly holler back that he paid less than $40 for the whole thing “down at the K-marts”.
But even dad has enough taste not to wear it with a fedora.
She’s dressed just like the Romanian flooring guy from across the street. I bet he didn’t spend $3000 on is H&M Brand “Polish Guy Workout Suit”.
I would think that in a country like Malawi, she would pay close attention to what she wore. Regardless that it is a fugly track suit, she spent more on it then most people make in a year. This is when I would normally say things like “She should adopt someone from the U.S.”, but we have higher standards and would turn her away.
Anything Madonna does is for attention. I mean, you can say that about any celebrity, but with her, it’s pathological. If she thought it was possible to turn herself completely inside-out, and that doing so would get her some publicity, she’d do it in a heartbeat. She hasn’t been relevant, or even interesting, for about twenty years now.
Aaaaaand in today’s double-post, it turns out that Madonna’s “Raising Malawi” foundation has not accounted for almost $4 million it “raised”, that she’s downplaying her creaky-cougar image while in Malawi, and that this latest child’s family doesn’t WANT Madonna to take her away from them. So her wardrobe is really just the tip of the leathery, oversexed iceberg.
She paid that much for that mess???
And in other news:http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2009/03/madonnas-prospective-baby-has-more.html
Apparently, this kid also has a lot of extended family surrounding her, dad is still alive just has limited contact because he has to go to another part of the country to work. This is despite previous reports that this kid had no family.
“But I want an oompa loompa now!”
How much for the fedora? Does it come free with every $2000+ purchase? Because if so,I have some shopping to do.
Yep, the Grandmother and the Uncles, whom this poor child is living with does not want her to leave. I gather from the reports I have read is that Madonna saw her two years ago and wanted her, regardless of who got in the way. Why not adopt a child with zero family? Why take this 4 year old from the only family she does have. Madonna is treats kids like Paris Hilton treats dogs, as accessories.
And I love the Polish joke. I thought the “track suit” reminded me of some of the outfits worn on “Sopranos”. Just without the chest hair and gold chains.
That’s why I hate ‘fashion’ with a fiery passion that consumes my soul – the only difference between a $3k tracksuit and a $30 Adidas track suit is the Goddamned logo. It’s not like it’s woven from the nose hairs of fallen Saints or something.
Then you’ve got underwear – and Pasta and JRod would back me up here if they stooped to wearing underwear like us ‘lowly peasants’ – where comfort actually seems to be diametrically opposed to cost. You could literally plot on a graph how the increase in price is directly connected to a decrease in actual comfort.
People only buy most of this crap because it’s expensive, and therefore, it MUST be better than the cheaper stuff. Which explains perfectly why every pair of expensive dress shoes I’ve bought fell apart within 6 months, but my $25 dollar sneakers have hung on for three years like grim death.
Nice material, girl! Sorry, woman. Crone.
Underwear?
Why do we bother with language if we aren’t going to use words correctly? “Is” apparently has several (opposite) meanings according to a former President, and “orphan” apparently means anything BUT “child with deceased parents”. Do other countries in other parts of the world routinely try to adopt out children with multiple known relatives? If the AP can find adult relatives who are willing to take these kids, why the heck are the kids in an orphanage to begin with? If so many in Africa are dying of AIDS, cholera, malaria, etc. there ought to be at least ONE kid who is truly alone, who has no chance without the help of adoptive parents.
Of course, my truly favorite part is that it is illegal in Malawi to adopt if you are single/divorced. I guess it is different for Chanel wearing narcissists.
I was under the impression that the girl had family, but was in an orphanage, like David was.
Does it matter? What “It” wants “It” gets.
Too bad she didn’t donate that kind of money to the orphanages – they could have really used it.
She may have family who aren’t quite equipped to deal with the day to day needs of a young child so she is in an orphanage for now. Grandma said the girl is supposed to be coming home to live with her when she is 6. Which probably means she will be more self sufficient and easier to take care of for an older woman.
As for the expensive track suit, well, they do feel nicer and the cut is usually a little more flattering. With Madonna’s roid rage fueled muscles, she needs anything to help her look a little less Hulk like.
I don’t like the idea of anyone adopting a kid with family around that are capable of caring for him or her, and if the idea is that the girl is going to Grandma at the age of six, then I do have an issue with Madonna’s adopting her and think she should back off. But, as with David’s father, there has to be more to the story. I know Madonna is pulling all sorts of strings and who knows what, but she also knows that this, like the last one, can turn into very bad publicity, which I am pretty confident she fears. I am not entirely convinced that Grandma didn’t suddenly remember that she had a grandchild when she heard Madonna was going to adopt.
Just adding… I also have to wonder what this orphanage is playing at. Why did Madonna even get a chance to see an unadoptable kid to begin with? If the kid has family or is not technically an orphan, how can they be adopted out at all? Surely this isn’t a Madonna thing because apparently, that’s not even the real issue. They are making a bigger deal out of a foreigner adopting a kid (unless it’s Madonna), and an unmarried person adopting (unless it’s Madonna), but not the fact that the kids have family who plan on taking them back. Something is very fishy with the way they run things, and Madonna is obviously exploiting that, which is crappy, but I get the feeling that she is not the only one that has adopted kids out of there that didn’t already have family. They seem pretty damn dodgy.
Scott, even your opinion of fashion makes my day. Couldn’t have said it better myself!
I had to go out and cover a story in the woods today and was wearing $40 jeans and about had a heart attack at the thought of ruining them (they survived) — let alone wearing almost $3,000 worth of “casual” wear into a third-world country.
With as much money as Modonna has, it doesn’t make sense to expect her to shop at Kmart/Walmart or whatever. We can gripe all we want about her fashion sense, but I don’t see any sense in bashing how much money she spends on her tasteless clothes, even in a poor country like Malawi. I agree with Chronic Malanga’s assessment on this one. Seems rather strange this orphanage keeps showing Modonna unadoptable children then accuse her of trying to bribe her way into getting a child accessory. I support children staying with a loving family as much as the next person, but the relatives must have already caculated the opportunities little Mercy will have if/when Modanna adopts her. I wouldn’t be surprised if David’s father is a little better off since Modonna adopted his son.
(Hours later, after thinking to search Amazon) Never mind. Turns out a hat like that runs 200 bucks. Guess I’ll have to blow the rent money on something else.
Sad thing is she probably just threw any old thing on and it happened to be worth $2800.
And where is the hypocrisy? Did Madonna say she wouldn’t wear designer duds? No fan of Madonna’s, but thinking Deceiver should be as clean as they expect celebrities to be. Unless the whole thing for Deceiver is just being bitchy to rich people, and having somebody to slam in their posts. The Burger King/Heather Mills “lopper” thing was an example of where you really shine. Stick to what you do best, Deceiver people, otherwise, you are just one of many that appear in print with nothing new or interesting to say.
Thanks! (I think?)
i saw this pic and thought “is that chanel? why would you wear that to malawi?” what an idiot!
Thanks, SC. There’s no accounting for taste. If I were to hang around in a track suit anywhere other than a gym, I would be labeled a chav. So I’m not saying that Madonna’s taste in clothing is anything spectacular here, but we cannot expect a multi gazillionaire to stop by Wal-Mart in order to pack for a trip to a poor African country. I don’t really have a problem with the amount of money she spends on clothes, and am just glad she isn’t wearing a cone bra and boy pants to go adopt a kid.
I don’t think it particularly matters what she’s wearing – we’re not talking Octomom here who sports designer duds but is swimming in debt. Whatever Madonna chooses to spend her hard-earned money on is her prerogative.
I thought I read where she was building a school down there, so of course, the government is allowing her to do what ever she wants. Why not adopt a chiild with no family around? This child obviously has family and they are willing to take care of her. I am sure there are others there that do not have any surviving family. Of course, in Madonna’s world, once she wants something she is determined to get it regardless of who gets in the way.
As for men’s underwear, real men go commando.
(Not a Maddona fan, but I’m going to play devil’s advocate). I know rich people are spoiled and get whatever they want. However, if the Malawi government says no, then I don’t see how Maddona could still be going through the adoption process. If Mercy has all this family who’s willing to take care of her, then why don’t they just take her out of the orphanage and make her ineligible for adoption? From what I’ve read in the google results, the orphanage Maddona is sponsoring offers food, housing, and schooling for the children. If it’s just a matter of food and schooling, any one of Mercy’s multiple relatives could take her home and bring her back to get food and schooling. It is a near by village after all. After reading all this, me thinks the family protests too much. They want to have their cake and eat it too (I hate this analogy, but I can’t think of one better). I think at this point, they know that Maddona has fallen in love with the little girl, already has 2 years worth of vested interest, so they can milk the celebrity for more money. I believe the grandmother genuinely wants to be able to see her grand daughter everyday, however, I also think she believes Maddona adopting Mercy is probably the best thing that can happen to the little girl at this point. The motherless little girl just won the adoption lottery. A parent who can devote almost unlimited resources to her well being, education, and future oppportunities. From what I’ve seen and read, I have not seen anything that indicates Maddona is a terrible mother.
“being bitchy to rich people”
Gotta enjoy it while it lasts. Soon, there’s going to be no rich or poor, no private property and just one political party. All companies and businesses will be owned by the gov’t. Moving forward towards communism under the guidance of our new wise Leader. Yes we can.
Wow. So sufficient wealth trumps family. Good to know. I’ll be sure to keep my two lovely little kids away from rich people, lest they catch the eye of some overpaid, pathologically promiscuous pterodactyl like Madonna. She’s ALWAYS on the hunt for accessories, you know.
LOL,
@ Beige. Point taken. However, your two beautiful children are not in an orphanage in a third world country where people are living a hand to mouth survival existence. Now then, if for some heaven forbid reason you end up in such a miserable situation, would you rather your child stay in that orphanage and grow up in an environment where the best they will ever be able to do is marry as early as possible and live in the same situation that put them in the orphanage in the first place or let a rich famous American (who has donated tons of money and personal time to help your community) adopt your children and provide a life of ease and opportunity for them? Obviously you would not be able to see your child as often as you would like, but she has promised to bring them back “regularly” so you can watch them grow up. And David (the boy she adopted before) seems to be a very healthy, happy, and confident little boy (despite having Madonna as a mom) in his adopted family. As a parent, what would you want for your lovely kids? (Again, I’m not a Madonna fan, but so far, the children Madonna has seems relatively well adjusted).
I would question how “well-adjusted” Madonna’s little acquisitions are, frankly; it’s not as though anyone can assess that, independent of her fleets of nannies and handlers. And if I had family members living, I’d want my children raised by THEM, not by some insanely pampered narcissist, I don’t care HOW much money she had. Money definitely helps, in a concrete sense–there’s no denying it. But having a lot of it doesn’t make you a better parent than someone who doesn’t have as much. She pays a high price for these kids because doing so gets her face time, not because she loves them. I would question whether Madonna loves anyone outside the mirror frame, frankly.
In case nobody noticed, “frankly” is Today’s Magic Word.
You’re welcome.
Frankly Beige, I don’t give a damn.
(My apologies to Beige, Rhett & Scarlett).
@ Beige,
I concede (never argued against this), Madonna is an over-blown, insanely pampered narcissist with tons and tons of money. She is far from perfect and far from having the best morals. With that said, if Mercy’s family could have cared for her, she would not be in an orphanage. Mercy’s prospects if she stayed in Malawi is a low life expectancy, at huge risk of contracting HIV/AIDs when she gets older, mediocre education at best (if she’s allowed to stay in school), and marry young so she has a husband to support her so she can have a home outside of the orphanage, or some other sort of bare subsistance type work to support herself, her grandmother, and whatever other type of family she needs to support.
Madonna is not my number 1 choice for an adoptive parent, however, she has access to the best health care available (extend life span), the best education available (expand future potential, even go to college!), and opportunities to learn more about the world outside of Mulawi. She’ll never have to be hungry, worry about keeping a roof over her head or having no health care. Being adopted by this crazy narcissist will allow adult Mercy to have more control and choices over her future. David and Mercy can someday have the knowledge and capability to affect more positive change in Malawi and not just become another statistic. Even if Madonna is not adopting out of love, she’s providing an opportunity that most common folks in Malawi will never have a chance to do–rise above poverty. Money isn’t everything and certainly does not gaurantee happiness, but it can sure as heck make a lot of things easier.
I have to agree with SC. It would be a huge self deception to think that Madonna isn’t a narcissist with a reputation for being domineering hardass who happens to have more money than most small countries. To be fair, though, we should give her the benefit of the doubt on a few things.
While her children have appeared in public and pap photos, they aren’t paraded around for that purpose and never have been. She has been bringing them up as far from the public eye as someone with her sort of fame can short of draping a blanket over them and inspiring disturbing nicknames. Lourdes may yet write a tell all, but from the looks of things right now, they appear to be normal and decent kids, team of nannies or not.
We can all make horrible assumptions about why she is truly adopting, and they may well be right, but let’s not forget that she is a human being, even though she does look reptilian. Maybe kids are a real joy in her life given that she works as much as she does and hasn’t had much luck with the men in her life or her own family. Blame who you want for her failed relationships, and I am the first to say that I am surprised Guy stuck around as long as he did given what we hear about Madonna’s personality, but she probably isn’t devoid of human emotion or some sort of maternal instinct. I don’t have or want kids, but even I have dogs that I consider kids (and not in a creepy way – they know that they are dogs and so do I). I’m not saying she’s not doing it out of some sort of narcissism, but if she is, there is certainly more to it good or bad. To make her entirely one dimensional with this might be a bit unfair.
In addition to what I have speculated regarding the orphanage itself, I agree that Mercy has won the lottery. If her grandparents can’t take care of her now, whatever the reason, why is everyone so sure that they will be able to properly care for her when she’s six or whatever? Maybe the orphanage is being dodgy in showing these kids to prospective adopters, but I have to wonder if the person interested in Mercy were just moderately wealthy and not famous, would the grandmother have emerged at all?
David and Mercy were both destined to a life of poverty, and one that I will not describe because SC described it so well already. Not only do they now have an opportunity to do well for themselves and possibly others, they’ve got a start that none of us could ever even imagine having. I also agree that with Madonna’s continued involvement in Malawi, there is a good chance that David and Mercy will pick up on that and very likely help the people in their homeland. Echoing SC again, money doesn’t guarantee love or happiness, but it does make a lot of things easier, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
I concede, in all seriousness, that y’all both make some very good and undeniable points. The whole thing seems to be moot as of today, however; the Malawian court shot down her petition to adopt.
Oh, I am so sad for Madonna today. *sniff* They denied her request for adoption
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30010609/
The only thing that truly makes me “sad for Madonna” is that she is, in fact, Madonna. She’s Gollum with a better stylist.
Notice that the request was not denied because of the kids family, but because Madonna had not resided in Malawi for however many months. That is telling.