Currently, Madonna is busy reinventing herself yet one more time. She is in London, directing her very first movie. It’s reported to be a comedy, and it’s known under a working title “Filth and Wisdom”. But she still manages to continue with her incredible music career as well. Her album called “Music” had won multiple awards and her career can pride itself with an astonishing number of 17 releases. Out of those, six made the first spot on the Billboard’s Top 200 music chart, and an additional five sat at number two. She won more awards than anyone can count, including the International Dance Music Award, American Music Award, and several MTV’s Music Awards and Grammies.

Besides all those accomplishments, Madonna is also an philanthropist. She has put a lot of effort and resources, and most importantly, she has used her name and fame to help the world we live in and those of it’s inhabitants who are in need the most. Madonna, who early in her career has been called the “Material Girl”, is in fact nothing but – she has donated millions to various charities and still is the spokesperson for several of them. A large part of profits from her album sales goes to help with the efforts to cure some of the most dangerous and deadly diseases that still plague the world. She does more than most in her position would do, choosing to go beyond giving money and speaking out on selected issues. She has rolled up her sleeves and went to the heart of the problems, personally taking care of infant orphans from Africa. She always has time to make a difference in the world – in fact, she concierges it her top responsibility.

Despite her numerous efforts to help make the world a better place for everyone living on it, the media, always hungry for more dirt on the rich an famous has often mercilessly attacked her. When she adopted an orphaned child from Africa, there were those who managed to portray the act as an publicity stunt. Madonna commented on the issue by saying that “The media is doing a disservice to all the orphans of Africa, by turning it into such a negative thing.”

Most people believe that Madonna is a stage name, fabricated to appeal to some urge a team of marketing experts worked hard to identify. That’s far from the truth – Madonna is actually her birth name – she was born to and Italian-Catholic father and a French mother as Madonna Ciccone in 1958. Her mother’s name was also Madonna, so everyone called the Madonna we know “Little Nonni”, to distinguish the two.

Unfortunately, “Big Nonni”, Madonna’s mother died when she was thirty, and her now famous daughter just five, and the pop star admitted later that her mother’s death affected her more deeply than anyone could ever tell, and that it was the defining moment that helped shape her into the person she is today. She said that her mother’s passing left her feeling weak, unprotected and abandoned, and that she felt the need to be strong for her little brothers and sisters. She also said that this is the reason she was always so driven and would stop at nothing in order to become successful.

That very drive has made Madonna the ultimate female pop star. She is the second best selling female pop singer of all time, with over 300 million sold records worldwide, and over 60 million in the United States alone. The only female artist who sold more albums than her is Barbara Streisand. Her fame was at it’s peak in the late eighties and early nineties, when she was so famous and popular that no other star could come close to those levels.

Madonna has stated that her biggest overall influence, especially when it comes to image, style and looks was Marylin Monroe. This is very easy to see from the video for the song “Material Girl”, where Madonna’s look is very reminiscent of the iconic Marylin look from Hollywood’s golden era. Another similarity between the two stars is the fact that they both lost their mothers at a young age. And like Marylin Monroe, Madonna has stirred controversy wherever she went. She is still infamous in Puerto Rico for rubbing the nation’s flag between her legs, and many of her videos, public appearances and movies had a lot of provocative themes and imagery. However, the controversy was ultimately in her favor, and she even attempted to cause it herself on more than one occasion. Despite the efforts from traditionalists and moralists, Madonna has came on top of those situations, and they ultimately made her sell more records every time.

Madonna has toned down her image in the last ten or so years, but she is as far from being retired as possible, and she is still recording movies and songs around the clock.

Though 52 years old, Madonna is far from aged. Her athletic, sinewy body is the result of her obvious love for physical exercise and activity. She still wears form fitting and revealing outfits on stage, and can do many of the dance moves she could when she was twice as young. she wore all kinds of hair styles, tried out almost every hair color known to man, and rocked every style of dress imaginable, ranging from dressing as a bride to wearing man’s suits – and somehow, she managed to look great in each and every one of those. She has great passion for fashion designers and their creations, and wore outfits created by the likes of Valentino, Dolce, Versace and others.

As being an established singer, actress, writer, producer and film director, Madonna just launched a new enterprise. Her very own fashion brand is conveniently called “Material Girl”, and debuted last year in Macy’s retail outlet. This was a joint effort with her daughter Lola, AKA Lourdes, who appears to be just a chip from the old block, and is following closely in her mother’s footsteps. Lola is already established as a social media star, and a fashion trend setter herself. The Material Girl brand is youthful, and aimed at teenagers and young women. Madonna already has some experience designing clothes, having done a highly successful line of clothes for H&M some years ago.

Madonna has also been a crucial part of another advertising campaign done by Dolce and Gabbana. The campaign was set in place to promote their 2010/11 collection. In the photos, Madonna is posing as a housewife, and is looking better then ever rocking D & G creations. The campaign is named “Desperately Seeking Housewife”, a play on the names of a popular TV show and one of the first movies Madonna has played in, “Desperately Seeking Susan”.

Madonna received a dance scholarship, and that made it possible for her to attend the University of Michigan. She dropped out of school in 1977, and with only a few bucks on her she took a bus to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a big singer and dancer.

She founded her first band in 1979, when she was 21. It was called the Breakfast Club, and she sang, played guitar and the drum set A year later, she founded the band Emmy with her then boyfriend Stephen Bray. It was in this band that she first attracted the attention of Seymour Stein, the CEO of Sire Records, who quickly recognized her talent and signed her for a contract. The result of this early cooperation was Madonna’s first single Everybody. it was released in 1982, but it failed to enter the charts, as did her second single, Burning Up. Fortunately for Madonna, her third release, Holiday, went on to become a big hit.

After those early successes, Madonna went on to release numerous hits. In fact, she is the third artist with the most number one spots on Billboard’s Top 40 list. Only The Beatles and Elvis Presley are above her in that regard.

Some of her biggest hits include:

Like a Virgin, which was Madonna’s first single that topped the charts, also caused a lot of controversy and negative public attention.

Take a Bow, which came out in 1995, was Madonna’s biggest success, and it topped the charts for almost two months.

Vogue and Hanky Panky, both came out in 1990 on the soundtrack for the movie Dick Tracy, which Madonna also starred in along Warren Beaty.

Music, from the year 2000, brought Madonna two Grammy nominations.

Like a Prayer, which came out in 1989 is also interesting for a fact that Pepsi Cola paid Madonna several million dollars to promote their product, but felt that the video for the song portrayed their brand poorly and pulled the commercial which featured parts of the video and the song after only one airing.

Papa don’t Preach, notable not just for it’s strong Motown music feel, but for dealing with abortion and teen pregnancy as well.

Justify my love, another cause for controversy, came out in 1991, and quickly got banned from MTV.

Crazy For You from 1985 followed the movie Vision Quest, and starred then popular Matthew Modine.

Who’s that girl, from the movie by the same name.

These are just some of the hits Madonna has recorded in her almost thirty long year career. Madonna received universal recognition as one of the most influential artists of all times, and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. She is still going strong, recording new songs and touring regularly.

To achieve Madonna’s look from the Like a Virgin and Celebrate era, you need to form the bases of several iconic items. Think cut off leggings and Capri pants, sexy little tops, lots of lace, fishnets, and denim jackets with the sleeves rolled up and collar popped. You will also need a pair of lace gloves. You will be able to find these in a thrift shop, or better yet, order a pair online. You can search for “Madonna lace gloves” or just browse through the accessories sections from the websites that carry stuff for Fancy Dress parties or the ones dedicated to eighties fashion items. You will probably need to cut off the fingers of them, though.

On-line is fine, but you shouldn’t forget about the joy of treasure hunting in antique and thrift shops. These are some of the best places to find accessories and cheap jewelry to finish up your Madonna inspired look. You can get all sorts of necklaces and bracelets at these places, so be creative! Include some rosaries, large crucifixes and loads and loads of fake pearls. Remember, this is not the time to be timid, so go completely overboard with it if you can – let that inner Material Girl shine.

Madonna’s eighties fashion look would not be complete without lots and lots of bracelets. You do need a lot of those, but they come really cheap. You can get those big packs of the thin, metallic silver colored ones for a couple of bucks, and you should wear them in dozens. Also try to work some rubber bracelets in the mix as well.

As for earrings, you have two options. One are the really big, plastic ones – you know the ones they call bicycle weals. Apart from hoop earrings, you can also go with the mismatched left and right earring approach. One of your earrings can be smaller, while you can wear a big old cross hanging from the other ear. Remember, just be creative.

You should definitely wear a big belt buckle. Madonna used to love these back in the day. One of her most famous appearances included a big belt buckle with words “Boy Toy” on it, and you can also go with spikes, studs, and bright colored belts as well.

As for shoes, that part is easy – you can really wear whatever you want. Madonna never really seemed to pay too much attention to these – remember, she is first and foremost a dancer, so all her shoes seemed to be utilitarian and comfortable. Just remember to wear cute, colorful socks with them.

Your hair should be blond OK, you knew that, but apart from the color, you can’t go wrong with big, curly, teased out hair – and don’t forget to include a big lace bow on top of that.