万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-03-26&27, 歌坛教主进军时装界

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She is the multi-Grammy Award winning, ever-changing queen of pop, an icon¹ of style, actress, mother and global brand. Now the material girl has reinvented herself again, this time, as a fashion designer. M for Madonna, a range of clothing designed by the star goes on sale worldwide this week in stores of the European fashion retailer² H&M. In an age where the line between celebrity³ and business is blurred⁴, teaming up with a global brand like H&M makes commercial sense.

It's not about reinvention, it's about being savvy⁵. It's about knowing your market and also knowing that every market has what is called a product life-cycle. It starts, it starts declining, but then you can extend it, or even better, you can say what have I learned from that? And now I am going to start again. And that's what she's done. She is one of the greatest marketers I've ever ever come across.

Madonna says it's no secret that she loves the world of fashion, but will a range of clothes designed by a horse riding 48-year-old mother of three, inspire the world's trendy young things and fashion conscious?

I mean I love her music, but I think the stuff she has designed is really nice as well. That is why I get quick, grab a piece of it.

I'm gonna see what the pieces are like. I wanna see the quality of them, you know. But I think I will be up to pick up a few bits and pieces.

(This time, what you come down here to say?) To get a dress for my fiancée. (So you've seen it already?) Yeah. But in black.

But these days, as Kurt Cobain has demonstrated, you don't even have to be alive to build a global brand. The late Nirvana singer was the highest earning celebrity brand last year.

Being dead is a very good marketing⁶ ploy⁷, but of course it has rather, well, it has a few disadvantages here and there. But if you want to put those aside, it's a very good marketing ploy because what it does, it means that people are still buying into the brand ideal of a name rather than the name itself.

So on that slightly distasteful basis, the queen of pop looks set to reign⁸ over the music and fashion worlds for many, many more years to come.

Adrian Finighan CNN, London.