For the mothers of the 80s, they never knew what hit them. Seemingly overnight, their teenaged daughters were embracing a style both seductive and shocking, wearing their underwear as outerwear, donning fingerless lace gloves, micro stretch skirts, pairing lacy ankle socks with stiletto heels. Accentuated with religious icon accessories and freshly dyed blond locks of hair, girls around the world had a new fashion guru to worship and her name was Madonna.

With her debut hit single, “Lucky Star” enjoying solid rotation on MTV, the world got their first glimpse of this streetwise temptress. With a mesh shirt dangerously exposing her midsection and offering occasional glimpses of her black lace bra, Madonna danced and sang her way into the international spotlight. Undeniably sexy, undeniably talented, she gained instant popularity, and the shock and scorn of conservative parents everywhere. And while more conservative musical offerings such as “Borderline” might have managed to get the older generation to drop their guard for a brief moment, the follow-up single, “Like a Virgin” confirmed their worst fears. This was blatant sexuality, the likes of which had never been unleashed before and despite their protests and admonishments, there was no going back. Soon, every item in Madonna’s wardrobe was flying off store shelves and girls everywhere were even going so far as to paint a little replica mole on their upper lip with a dot of eyeliner.

The Madonna craze hit full stride in 1985 with the release of the film, “Desperately Seeking Susan,” starring Rosanna Arquette as a bored suburban housewife who decides to impersonate a much wilder woman (played, of course, by Madonna.) Soon, those infamous tuxedo jackets with the pyramid design were one of the most highly sought items on the fashion market. Ads on MTV for the iconic jackets and well-stocked mail order houses proceeded to put the mass- produced jackets on the shoulders of millions of young girls who came to be known as “Madonna Wannabees,” eager to replicate every nuance of Madonna’s brazingly bodacious look. 

Madonna’s style influence certainly didn’t end with the 80s decade; it continued to play a role in fashion trends that would shock and inspire well through the subsequent one as well.  But the unforgettable impact of her fashion statements on the general public in the 80s are the stuff that legends are made of - or nightmares, if you happened to be a parent during her initial ascension to fashion icon.