Dressing Up The Immaculate Collection

All that kabbalah and yoga has taught Madonna to look deep within… her closet. So she hired Karine Prot to catalog every incarnation of her wardrobe, from tour and movie costumes to outfits from 20 years of public appearances.

Going through the Material Girl’s material isn’t as easy at it seems, even for someone like Prot, who assisted Hamish Bowles, of Vogue, on the Jacqueline Kennedy exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not only does Prot have to clean and pack each item, but she also has to identify it. ”I do my own informal research,” Prot says. ”A lot of the Madonna-fan Web sites are really helpful.” When stumped, she can turn to the expert. ”Madonna usually remembers everything about a piece.” The matriarch of pop agrees, saying, ”God gave me a steel-trap memory, which serves me well most of the time.”

While she has yet to locate the Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra from the Blonde Ambition tour, Prot says her favorite find so far is the skirt Keith Haring designed for the ”Borderline” video in 1984. ”It was in perfect condition,” she says. With work about half complete, Prot estimates it will be another year and a half until she’s finished her treasure hunt, which may eventually go on tour: Madonna is thinking about mounting an exhibition. Could MoMAdonna be far behind?

From an article by Jamie Wallis, The New York Times Style Magazine