Saturday, January 15, 2011

The extremely controversial book - Madonna (Warner Books)




“Sex is a highly-designed coffee table book written by Madonna with photographs by Steven Meisel Studio and film frames shot by Fabien Baron, released October 21, 1992 by Warner Books. The book was released by Madonna as an accompaniment to her fifth studio album Erotica, which was released a day earlier (October 20, 1992). The extremely controversial book featured strong adult content and softcore pornographic photographs depicting simulations of sexual acts, which included lesbianism, male homosexuality, sadomasochism, anilingus, and rape. Madonna wrote all of the erotica in the book as a character named Mistress Dita, inspired by the silent film actress Dita Parlo.
Featured in the book, aside from unknown faces, are model Naomi Campbell, actress Isabella Rossellini, rappers Big Daddy Kane and Vanilla Ice, gay porn star Joey Stefano, actor Udo Kier, the European socialite Tatiana von Furstenberg, and nightclub owner Ingrid Casares. For the release Madonna gave a party at New York City's Industria Superstudio, for which she attended dressed as Little Bo Peep with a stuffed toy lamb.
Aside from Steven Meisel himself, photographers from his studio were also employed. The book credits Michael Stratton, Darren Lew, Line Barzudkas, Stephen Callaghan, and Chris Hobson. Fabien Baron, one of the book's designers, also shot many of the photo sessions on film (mostly on Super 8 mm), with many film frames taken from this footage being used in the book.”