The Obsessive Madonna IG Account Tracking Her Brunette Eras
@madonnabrunetteofficial is a peculiar and passionate collection of Madonna’s most honest hue.
I like to write about Madonna, whether it is her slip dress in “Like a Prayer” or her workout looks. Or maybe I will dress up as her. Also, the first Substack here was on Madonna’s “Bad Girl”! Here is an ode to @madonnabrunetteofficial, an Instagram account by two amazing Madonna historians in Brazil. PS. New NEVERWORNS season coming soon…until then, here are some oldies!
There are thousands of Madonna fan accounts on Instagram, but perhaps the most oddly obsessive one is @madonnabrunetteofficial, which chronicles Madonna’s brunette eras over the past 40 years. The account is an incredible cornucopia of the singer’s moments with dark tresses, ranging from the loose black ringlets of her “Like a Prayer” beginnings to the Queen of Pop’s inky mane from her soul-searching kabbalah sessions in the early ‘00s. The page is by avid Madonna fans Alessandra Costa and Dani Menezes who met at a Madonna concert in 2012 and live in two different cities in Brazil. They have been collecting images since 2013 and have posted over 1,900 photographs on Instagram of brown-haired Madge from her childhood till now.
Some standouts on the account include a passport photo from 1998, which even in its blurriness casts a striking contrast thanks to Madonna’s dark brunette locks. Another is an American Life (2003) promo photo in which Madonna sports a razor sharp obsidian lob. Some heartfelt moments on the account are when the creators use Madonna song lyrics as the captions; almost an endearing form of abstract fanfic. One post shows a distressed-looking Madonna speaking into a car phone with a black shaggy bowl cut with a caption of the sorrowful lyrics to “Drowned World / Substitute for Love”. In the comments, one user writes “undoubtedly fighting with Sean” referencing Madonna’s two-year marriage to Sean Penn.
The most precious images are of pre-fame Madonna from her quiet childhood days in Bay City, Michigan. In one photo, the pop star isn’t yet Madonna but rather Madonna Louise Ciccone in May 1972, posing in a group photo. The caption reads “Madonna school photo. Madonna is the one laughing out loud”. Madonna’s virgin black hair appears flat, air dried, and is parted down the middle. No fancy hairdresser wielding a pair of shears—that comes later in 1989 as Madonna’s fame is soaring and she is galloping around Paris with designer Jean Paul Gaultier. In an old paparazzi shot, Madonna is browsing magazines with her hair in a jet black Pageboy ‘do that juts out from underneath her hat brim.
The photo is captioned with “1989- DECEMBER- PARIS WITH JEAN PAUL GAULTIER”, but the post is not without controversy. Eagle-eyed Madonna fans on the page noticed that @madonnabrunetteofficial initially wrote that the photo was taken in October but the user @madonnasongbook corrected the mistake, noting that “she went brunette in November / December”.
The page is full of superfans who love Madonna and possess a sort of rabid knowledge that often follows mononym pop stars like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, or Beyoncé. But why the focus on Madonna’s brunette era? After all, we’ve seen Madonna, a master reinventer, go from platinum blonde to dirty blonde to aflame shades of red and pink. Madonna transforming herself with the help of a dye job is nothing new, and in fact, it’s expected.
Yet, there is a tenderness when Madonna wears versions of her natural hair color that makes the peculiarity of the Instagram account make sense. There is a rawness to the pop star when she sheds that peroxide lacquer; sometimes a moodiness that is often interpreted as honesty. In 1989, she told Rolling Stone, “I feel more grounded when I have dark hair, and I feel more ethereal when I have light hair. It’s unexplainable. I also feel more Italian when my hair is dark.” Costa believes that this follicular nakedness has an effect on Madonna’s music. “Madonna’s best songs were produced when she was brunette and I think when she dyes her hair it’s because she wants to be taken seriously,” says Costa. Menezes backs this claim up, referencing Madonna’s debut as a stage actor. “Every time Madonna wanted to convey a strong message, or opinion, she would turn brunette. For example, in 1988, she did the play Speed The Plow, her first time in the theater, she spent the entire year brunette.”
Perhaps there is some truth to this. In some of Madonna’s most impactful video interviews, she is a brunette. This is the case of the searingly delicious 1994 episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, which has its own Wikipedia page. Throughout the interview, Madonna is smug, at times puffing on a fat cigar, and wears her hair in a slicked-down curtain style which Letterman refers to as a “bathing cap”. This interview comes after her widely panned book SEX and Erotica (1992). Madonna crudely splatters the talk show with f-bombs, pulling no punches while going tit-for-tat with Letterman who Madonna noted had been “obsessed with her sex life”. It’s sassy retribution at its most unhinged. Sometimes Madonna nails a great insult or lands a suggestive joke, and sometimes, she lands absolutely nothing. Funny or not, the interview is an incredible example of Madonna at her most fearless.
A few years later in 1999 when Madonna turned 40, she gave an interview to Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes. Madonna is far more manicured, and at times, the interview gets emotional. (Is Madonna hamming up these heartstring-tugging moments? I’m not totally sure). Perhaps, Madonna uses her brunette hair as a way to make us believe that she’s baring her soul throughout this proper interview. It’s as if Madonna is trying to show us her roots.
Here is a short email interview I did with Dani and Alessandra of @madonnabrunetteofficial who love Madonna as, yes, a brunette!
1). When did you first become a Madonna fan?
Alessandra: 1982. I was nine years old when I heard Madonna for the first time in a commercial for a soap opera called “Final Feliz” (Happy End). Her music was part of the international soundtrack of the soap opera. [The song was] “Everybody”, her first single. It was love at first sight.
Dani: I became a fan in 1985 after watching a TV show for “Dress You Up”. I was maybe six or seven years old. My teenage sister was also a fan of Madonna. And so begins my story with Madonna which has lasted until today.
2). What is your favorite Madonna moment?
Alessandra: I have two:
1) A musical moment. Her video “Rain” (shot in black and white and digitally colored). As a professional photographer, that video made a big impression on me. The quality, the lighting, and beautiful Madonna appearing like an angel.
2) The second was Madonna’s “Truth Or Dare” premiere in Los Angeles. She looked beautiful, radiant and in a wonderful moment of her career.
Dani: My favorite moment from her was when she’d dance around the burning crosses in the “Like a Prayer” video. For me, it’s her greatest moment, and also music history. Madonna evokes her Italian roots while protesting white supremacy in a video showing a Black man portraying Jesus. That’s the song and video climax, the choir, the instrumental intensifies and the visual impact is mesmerizing.
3). Why do you like Madonna’s brunette era so much?
Alessandra: I love the contrast of her eyes with her black (or brown) hair. There are thousands of blondes with light eyes in the United States but brunettes are few in history, like Elizabeth Taylor for example and black is her natural hair color. Madonna’s best songs were produced when she was brunette and I think when she dyes her hair it's because she wants to be taken seriously.
Dani: As a blond, Madonna is just an ordinary beauty. Madonna’s mix of dark hair, light skin, and blue eyes is different; exotic. Every time Madonna wanted to convey a strong message, or opinion, she would turn brunette. For example, in 1988, she did the play Speed The Plow, her first time in the theater, she spent the entire year brunette. Around the same time she recorded the Like a Prayer album, with a blond cover to then return for Ray Of Light with dark hair, spending an era with dark hair. Even at the 1999 Grammys, she was a brunette. American Life was another example, and finally Madame X, the advertising materials showed Madonna with dark hair. Madonna then commented that on the cover of the album she looked like her mother.
4) When did you create the Instagram account?
Alessandra: On Facebook in 2013, on Instagram the first account was created in 2016, but I lost it because of an argument with a hater. Then in 2019, I created the current account and started all over again.
Dani: My friend Alessandra created a Facebook account in 2013 and asked me to manage the page with her. At that time, I worked with photos of Madonna Morena and her daughter Lola. These photos exploded with likes and one of them even reached Madonna and she reposted it on her Instagram account. That was an extraordinary moment for Alessandra and I. During this period, Alessandra already had an Instagram page and, even though it was a niche page, it started to be very successful. To our knowledge, our pages on Instagram and Facebook are the only ones posting only pictures of Madonna as a brunette
5) How do you do your research?
Alessandra: I have a photographic memory, maybe because I'm a photographer, and I know by heart all of Madonna's appearances (public or in concert). I try to vary the photos and not post photos that I posted a short time ago. But I also know all the photos where she appears blonde. It's natural, it’s like I'm someone who works for her and catalogs her image. I do it as a hobby. I work, I study, I’m a mother, I’m married, but I “take care” of Madonna’s image
Dani: Alessandra and I have a large archive of pictures of Madonna. And whenever something new comes out, some old photoshoot that is being revealed, we snatch it. What makes our work easier is, we arrange photos by year, by era, premieres, etc. Even on Facebook the photos are all organized by folders by year and events. This guides fans who want to see photos from each era, etc.
6) What is the rarest Madonna image that you’ve found?
Alessandra: Virtually the rarest images were photos from the Like a Prayer era photographed by Herb Ritts. These are images that were leaked in high resolution, But I have a collection of everything that has ever come out on the internet. I have an original cinema poster from 1996 of the movie Evita. I don’t know any fan in the world who has a poster like mine.
Dani: There are some photos of her early days in New York that are true finds. Photos of her in clubs, some photo shoots she did for young photographers. There are some Herb Ritts photo shoots from 1988, 1989, and 1990 that are great. Madonna has always been very photogenic.
I love that page! Alessandra and Dani make a fabulous work collecting this amazing photos. I am a big Madonna fan and I learn a little more everyday with them!
your deep dives never fail to amaze me. Obsessed with this